Kutna Hora

A few weekends ago, I accompanied Miki to a quaint little town called Kunta Hora. It's an hour east of Prague by train. Miki claims it is the 2nd largest tourist town in the Czech Republic (2nd of course to Prague). I had a hard time believing that considering the size of the town. Miki and his roommate were going to Kunta Hora to play in an indoor football (soccer) tournament. So I traversed the city on my own. We arrived shortly after 9. There was not much open at 9 on a Saturday (including the visitor's center. Not wanting to sit around in the pretty chilly November morning air, I took a picture of the large tourist map outside the info center, and headed towards the main attraction of this town for someone in her early twenties not particularly knowledgeable of, or, let's be honest, super interested in history: the bone church. It's officially called an ossuary (a place or receptacle for the bones of the dead). The surrounding cemetery had always been a popular resting place for the social elites of the area, but then someone brought sand from Golgotha in the Holy Land to the cemetery, and then everyone from the Czech Republic and surrounding countries wanted to be buried there. Therefore the land quickly became overcrowded and needed to be expanded. During the expansion, tons of really old bones were dug up, and stored in the ossuary (I'm assuming that's the building part). They were originally just in heaps kind of like the laundry in my room right now until a woodcarver named František Rint decided to make them aesthetically pleasing. The result was pretty cool.

The chandelier has every type of bone in the human body. The ossuary is actually located outside of Kutna Hora in Sedlec. So round trip it was about an hour walk. But even with traveling to Sedlec by foot and back, I was still able to see all 16 attractions marked on the city map in about 5 hours and I was still able to see Miki's last match of the tournament (they came in 5th out of 7). I went inside everything I was allowed in as well with the exception of the silver mine which you need reservations to tour and is only in czech in less you organize a special group in advance. But otherwise there were only 3 places to visit. Two of the others were closed just for construction, but most of the churches were closed to visitors except by appointment. Which is why it's hard for me to believe it's the second largest tourist city in the Czech Republic. How can something be such a huge spot for tourists when there are only 3 places for them to go? But then I remember that before I met Miki, I probably couldn't name another city in the Czech Republic besides Prague, and because of it's small size and close proximity to Prague,it would make since that lots of visitors to Prague make the day trip. Now, enjoy more photo highlights from the trip. I hope you like looking at buildings!

Ursuline Convent
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady

St. Barbara's Cathedral

A cute little road

The cat I saw and kind of chased by the Italian Court

The Stone Fountain

Church of St. John of Nepomuk

Plague Column


Italian Court

A Different Fall

Before you leave the foyer in a Czech household, you take off your shoes and exchange them for 'house shoes' or whatever they call them (slippers/sandals). This is pretty common among lots of cultures, I know, but I can only speak for this one.

This custom extends to kindergartens and elementary schools as well. Everyday I teach kids adorned with Crocs, Birkenstocks, and other slipper/sandal type shoes that are only worn in doors. In the elementary school, (I only teach at one of these which is grades 1-9 and they call it primary school) each class has a giant cage in which the kids can hang jackets and change their shoes. Once safely equipped with the proper footwear, they are free to roam about the halls. Or you know, go to class. In this school, they allow me and other special visitors to keep their street shoes on. Which is good since I don't have a giant cage, and all of the others are locked by the time I get there.

The kindergartens are a different story. If you want to drop your child off at kindergarten, you walk them into the building, get them changed into their indoor shoes and apparently change there pants. (Maybe that's just a winter thing, but I've noticed lately the last few stragglers that are still in the foyer changing pants.) And then you walk your kid up to his or her classroom. Therefore, you must remove your shoes, or by the door, they have these little cloth bags to go over your shoes which you can use if you don't want to take off your shoes.

I don't mind walking around in socks all morning, so I go shoeless. This works well for running around and playing games (or chasing the kids that scream and run into the corner) but doesn't bode well for the transition between classrooms. Stairwells are not carpeted. Last week the inevitable happened. The static friction between my stockinged feet was less than the kinetic friction of the movement down the steps, and I slipped and bounced the rest of the way down. The only things bruised were my pride and my right forearm. I might start bring my Birkenstocks. Just don't tell them that I consider them 'all-terrain' footwear.

To je podsim?!?

That's right, the first title in Czech. I've had two official Czech lessons so far. The class only meets once a week for 90 minutes, so that tiny fraction of the time that I spend speaking Czech will probably not do much. I've been feeling rather pessimistic all week though, so forgive the melodramatic overtone of this entry.

This is Fall?!? is the translation of the title, because, apparently like most places in the world, it's been snowing this week. On Thursday it snowed the entire day. On Wednesday and today it's been raining and very very cold with occasional flurries. My spirits are probably just reflecting the weather.

This job is driving me crazy. Just when I think I have most classes on their way to being under control as far as behavior is concerned, they tell me I have a new class where the kids are the worst yet. It's not entirely their fault. They are surrounded by toys, so I suppose they can't help but get distracted. Thinking back to when I was a kid, if an adult yelled at me, I had to do all I could to keep from crying. I would never dream of laughing and running to the corner taking all of my friends with me. Granted, I never had someone yelling at me in a language I didn't understand, but I highly doubt I would take it any less seriously.

There are redeeming moments. There was the boy who left at the same time I did and ran alongside my bike waving goodbye. And the first grade class that loves me and is very well behaved. I go to that school everyday, and I feel like a celebrity since I go to most of the grades for 20 minutes a week. So all of the kids at least know of me as "the American" and I get a bajillion 'hello's' as I walk through the halls (usually getting lost because the class room my schedule says I should go to is empty).

New Title, Same Great Posts

So I've returned from a fantastic visit home. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do/see everything that I had on the list, but it was a great time nonetheless. Miki said he could see himself living there in the future and that it's not too much different than the Czech Republic minus all of the driving everywhere, of which he was not a big fan.

I arrived to Prague after about 36 hours of traveling by every mode of transportation I can think of, except for car or boat (bus, plane, subway, train, at one point bike, and of course, by foot) all the while carrying bags that were far too heavy and falling apart. But at least it didn't involve sleeping in airports or train stations like the two nights prior to coming to the States. But I digress. We are young, strong, and healthy. Now's the time to schedule ridiculous travel routes just to save money and/or visit different places.

As I was saying, I arrived on the evening of Friday the 18th after 36 hours of traveling, carry heavy bags, with very little sleep, and had to be at the office at 9:30am to begin my weekend of intensive training. Piece of cake. Actually it really wasn't that bad. Getting up the next day was worse and I wrestled with the alarm clock snooze button for two hours before finally being dragged out of bed and downstairs where Miki's Grandmother had cooked us a nice lunch. So I groggily stuffed myself with the giant section of chicken (I think) that she so lovingly prepared, while they spoke in Czech. Great. Back in the land where I have no idea what's being said around me. At times like these, it's funny how much I long to be back in the land where I usually know kind of what's going on, or can at least fake it (i.e. Germany). Luckily I had to be at work soon, so I escaped rather quickly. (Note: I'm being over dramatic, it's really not that bad here. I'm having lovely time.)

Undoubtedly I was one day become facebook friends with fellow Wattsenglish teachers, and they will find this blog, therefore be it known, that I think it is a good company. However, they basically write your first lesson for you, since you are just getting the kids excited about English and showing them the way and thing they will be learning. That being said, the first day of work doesn't require much independent thought. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, after watching other sample videos I stumbled upon on YouTube from other potential candidates that may or may not have made the cut, I see why they write everything out for you. Let's be honest, not everyone is as awesome as I am. (kidding) So at the training I got a lot of papers to read that were filled with ideas for games and activities and then got the Demo lesson as well as the first month's lessons all planned out for you. I stopped feeling bad about missing the training pretty quickly. However, I did miss out on meeting everybody. I plan to fix that problem by hosting a party for my fellow Prague teachers in the near future.

However, as punishment for not being at training, nay, as a result...well I guess that can't be proven either...anyway my first week's schedule was very empty (as is this weeks). They keep insisting more is to come, and I'm sure it is, (though I've heard horror stories of over-hiring/under-booking from last year that keep me feeling a little uneasy) as of right now, I only teach two 25 min classes on Monday and Friday mornings. And this Monday was a Holiday.

It's actually been very nice because I've then been able to run around and do all of the bureaucratic things that I didn't get to do during the week of training, and I've been able to do some proofreading so I'm not entirely useless. Although I must admit, I could get used to the idea of being able to work in my pajamas in front of a computer.

It's a Bowl!

Starting on September 29 (according to my contract, although I'm pretty sure there is a week of training beforehand) I will be working for Wattsenglish, Ltd. Here is an excerpt from the 'About Us' section of their website

Wattsenglish is a UK registered limited company and with schools and franchised branches in Central Europe, is one of the leading organizations specialising in young learner language education. ...

In relation to our daily activities we concern ourselves with, the implementation of trained native English speaking teachers into the Czech education system., the outsourcing of our teachers to kindergartens and primary schools, the teaching and managing of our own specialised language kindergartens, after school lessons and clubs, as well as regional events. These are all areas in which Wattsenglish continues to push the boundaries of good teaching practice. It is our constant aim to enthuse young learners with the desire and motivation to communicate in a second language which stays with them for life. ...

Our teachers come from many different places and backgrounds but are all trained native English speaking teachers and hold a Wattsenglish certificate in the teaching of English to young and very young learners. The Wattsenglish teacher training programme (as accredited by the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport) enables our teachers to understand the benefits of building a relaxed and encouraging English speaking environment, to be able to pull on a wealth of ideas and activities as well as to build confidence in working with rich and varied resources and materials for their learners. ...

Here is the video sample I sent them during the interview process:


You're going to have to turn the sound on your computer up really loudly, because I recorded it with my digital camera. I bought the camera in 2005, so in technology years, it's ancient! After watching it, you will get an idea of what their teaching method is like, with the constant repeating in unison of simple sentences. I will see most of you soon, but if the next time I see you after that, I talk to you like a 6 year old learning English for the first time, I apologize in advance.

In der Küche mit Maggie

For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of eating. However, one of my newly developed hobbies is cooking and baking. My enjoyment is very mercurial though. There will be a period of time where I will bemoan the thought of so much as boiling water, let alone actually creating a whole a meal. This is when I live on bread and cheese. But then, I will get an idea. Or I will have a few odd ingredients left in my cupboard and the challenge of trying to create something substantial/eatable out of them is enough to shake me from my lethargy and get to work. Another important factor in creating a chef out of me is craving something specific. As you can imagine, living on a budget in another country definitely puts some restraints on what you can and cannot purchase at the local grocer. Combine that with the fact that there's nothing open on Sundays here and you find yourself looking up "homemade tortilla chips" in Google search. If you do so, you will find that homemade tortilla chips are made from tortillas, which is not very helpful (not to mention surprising seeing as they're called tortilla chips) but you can also make homemade tortillas. Therefore, I present to me my final product:
It's not very often I get inspired to take a picture of one of my creations. Satisfying and delicious.

For the Visually Impaired

See, there's my name.

das Umweltbundesamt

Here is my first publication as a professional chemist.

I had to take a screen shot because it was done in PowerPoint and wouldn't give me the option to save it as anything but .ppt or .hml. I may have been able to figure something out if this computer were not entirely in German. Not that I can't read the German, it's just I don't know what I'm looking for in English. So the picture is tiny, but you should be able to make out that my name is listed second (maybe if you squint...well just trust me). I photoshopped the diagram of the person and the three pictures of in lab stuff are mine! The data found in the graph are also (mostly) mine, although Anja made the graph. I contributed to the written stuff as well, but most of what I wrote got edited or changed by the head of the Department who did the final editing. He's the one who took the poster to Sweden back in May. I actually haven't seen the actual huge poster version, but I know it exits somewhere.

Currently in lab we have a new column for the GCMS (Gas Chromatograph, Mass Spectrometer) and the power went out which through something off during the calibration process, so we have to start over. So basically I do nothing but watch people move around really small, expensive objects, and type things into computers.

But mentally I'm still on the American college student schedule, so I've been on break for a month now. So doing nothing fits my plans nicely.

die Verkehrsschilder

I don't understand some of the traffic signs in Germany, and apparently neither do the Germans. Or perhaps 4-way intersections are uncommon in Berlin. Stop signs are very scarce in Germany. I remember noticing that the first time I was here in Leinfelder-Echterdingen when I was 16. There are yeild signs everywhere down there, but in Berlin I don't see too many of those either(granted I'm not in a car as much). There are lots of stop lights.

But anyway, I was almost to work the other day, when I came upon a 4-way intersection. I pass this intersection every day, but normally there's no one there, and I just bike through it. However this time there were three cars. I was the last one to arrive at the intersection (plus I was on a bike), and I completed the square, so to speak, so now there was a car (or bike) in every spot. The car directly across from me kept waving for them to go, but one of them wanted to turn left, and the other go straight, so it was pretty impossible for them to go at the same time. But that's what kept happening. They would both start to go, then they would both stop, and then the car across the way would angrily wave some more, and even beeped the horn at one point (like that is going to solve anything). I was going to volunteer to cross the intersection first, but I had failed to do the down shift thing, so I was in the highest gear, which doesn't exactly allow for the smoothlest of transitions from stopped to moving. So I figured my wobbley zig-zagging through the intersection at a speed that a pedestrian could probably beat, would not be the best thing to satisfy Mr. Impatient.

Finally they worked it out, and we were all on our way. I thought maybe the signs that were on the corner did say something about how to deal with 4 people at the intersection, but I didn't know what they meant. It's just a bunch of blue circles with either a red slash or a red X in them. I looked them up when I got to work, and apparently, they have to do with parking. Interesting.

trampen

The cheapest way to get to Prague (or anywhere, I guess) is to hitchhike. I’ve done so twice so far with Miki. He advises against my going alone, for safety reasons. And I agree with him for linguistic reasons. I think I could get myself into the Czech Republic, but seeing as I can only say “My name is Maggie. I’m an American.” and “I live in Berlin.” I don’t think that would really help me get to Prague. Miki has hitchhiked almost every time since the weather got nice to Berlin and back. The only thing is that it takes an indeterminate amount of time, so if you have some place to be that evening, chances are high you might not make it. Miki has a lot of luck alone on Weekdays. He usually goes with truckers. The two times we’ve gone together have been on a Friday that was a German public holiday and a Sunday. Neither of which are the best choices since most of the people traveling already have full cars. So we receive a lot of the “I would take you, but I have no room” shrug and gesture to the back of the car. Regardless, on both occasions we ended up at our destination at the end of the day, and I thought they were both pretty pleasant experiences.

Of course I say that now. However, hitchhiking requires a lot of patience. It’s a philosophy that requires patience, faith, and trust. So says Miki. This past Sunday we stood for almost two hours in Berlin before finding a ride just 50 km down the road. But that first ride is all you need to prove yourselves a trustworthy trekker, because in our new spot, it was obvious someone had to have dropped up off there in a car. We found the next ride within 10 minutes. Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind if you ever wish to hitchhike around Germany. Yes, I know, I’ve only done it twice, so I have no credibility, but most of this is information from Miki.

1. Use signs so it is clear where you are headed. This eliminates unnecessary stopping which could annoy the drivers as well as you, since it gets your hopes up.

2. Stand somewhere where it is easy for cars to pull over and stop, or where they are already stopped (like a gas station or rest stop).

3. Shave. This one doesn’t really apply to me, but in general, look nice. They have to trust you too.

4. When you get a ride, follow the lead of the driver and other people in the car. If they want to start a conversation, have a conversation. If they just want to drive in peace and listen to the radio, keep to yourself. But don’t fall asleep. (Okay, so I broke this when driving from Dresden to Prague on Sunday, but only because it was like one of those sun ovens we cooked pizza in in girl scouts in the backseat. And Miki was in the front seat having a conversation with the driver in Czech.)

5. Know where you want to go. Sometimes people offer their own ideas, and that’s great. But you should still have some idea of where you want to go, and make sure they are going past that before you get in the car.

On both occasions, the first ride was a married couple. The first time I almost didn’t spot him since he was just gesturing us over from the gas station while he was pumping gas with gloves on. But it was a nice quiet ride and they ended up giving us a box of Rittersport chocolates. They took us to the last gas station before Dresden, which also happens to be the last gas station in Germany on the highway to Prague. We found that out with the next couple who offered us a ride. I think he was German and she was Romanian. They were awesome and obviously just liked adventure. They lived in Dresden, but offered to stay on the highway to Prague and take us to the next gas station. They specifically cleared out their backseat for us, which had been filled with lots of lumber, and gave us beer. She kept saying that they would go with us to Prague, if it weren’t for the fact that they hadn’t fed their cat. And her reaction when they accidentally ended up in the Czech Republic was hilarious. The final leg of that journey was on a bus full on 6 or 7 year old soccer players. They were just starting a movie too, and about 10 or 15 minutes into the drive, someone changed the subtitles to English.

This Sunday was a little less exciting, but it didn’t take nearly as long. (We stood in the first gas station in the Czech Republic for an obscene amount of time the first time we went. We got on the soccer bus at 10 or 10:30pm. So like I said, you can’t make same-day plans.) The first couple was nice, but the ride was short. The next guy was the most interesting. He took us to the last gas station before Dresden. He was coming from a poker tournament in Berlin in which he placed third. He was Austrian but lived in Dresden. He’s been to Las Vegas 27 times. He knew Pennsylvania because he flies into Philly and takes a train to Atlantic City. He loves Las Vegas so much, he flew his wife there to marry her in the little white chapel (I pretended to know what that was). The last guy was the Czech who talked to Miki the whole time while I slept. But he seemed nice. He had an ostrich egg in the back seat which I almost sat on. Perhaps I should add that to the list. Don’t sit on someone’s ostrich egg; you might break it. Luckily the egg was not harmed.

Spellcheck Generation

I edited my last post so it now contains the correct spelling of the word ladder and well as the word soap in place of soup. Seeing as I figured there was soap in the house so I had no qualms touching a dead mouse. I was not planning to make soup out of it, nor use soup to distract the cat. But those were good ideas, Mom.

Litti jagt

Sometimes, when Monika and Dieter go out of town, if they are leaving really early in the morning, they ask me to come over the night before so Litti is doesn't get stressed out when he wakes up in the morning and no one is there. I wouldn't want to traumatize the poor cat, and it really makes no difference to me so of I oblige.

First of all, there has been a change in the way Litti goes outside. Recently, there was a letter posted in Monika and Dieter's apartment to all cat owners. It stated that all cats were to remain inside and not in the garden. This does not stop Monika and Dieter. So now, they wait until dark, and only put the cat ladder down from balcony for long enough for Litti to climb down. Then it goes back inside (and the lights can come on again). Then in a half an hour or so, the cat comes back.

The last time I came over the night before, I was watching TV with Monika while we waited for Litti to come back inside for the night. It was getting late; late enough for an 'Erotic Thriller' to come on TV. Erotic Thrill means a scary movie that involves really really graphic sex scenes. This one in particular was from the US, called Killing Me Softly, and it stared the same guy who played Martin Luther in the movie Luther. So that was a little awkward. But anyway, Monika made a joke about how Litti was probably out hunting mice, and that's way he's taking so long. I laughed, and went back to awkwardly watching Martin Luther break some more commandments.

Fast forward to the next evening. Since it was dark, Litti was allowed outside and I was upstairs on the computer gchatting to Miki. I went down to check outside, and found Litti looking up at me, patiently waiting for the ladder to be lowered so he could climb inside. Nothing out of the ordinary here. I returned to the computer room and continued my conversation. Then Litti started meowing. He probably just quickly got something to eat and now wants to go outside. Well it was late, and I was planning to go to bed soon, so I just ignored the noise. But the little bugger was persistent, and I finally went downstairs to play with Litti using one of the many cat toys. He likes that too and will probably be happy with just that. So I go downstairs, and there he is sitting regally, like a lion. I swear, he was smiling proudly and at his feet was a dead mouse. Luckily it was dead because I was in no mood to chase a mouse around the house. So I pet him and said what a good boy he was from bringing me a mouse, and he seemed very content.

Well it was late, and I figured they have soap in their house, so I thought 'what's the harm?' and picked up the dead mouse by the tail to dispose of the poor creature. That is not a smart thing to do in front of the cat that just killed it. I had lifted it maybe two inches off the floor when Litte batted it out of my hand and immediately drew it close to his body, keeping it from me. 'Come on', I tried again to get the mouse. This only prompted him to start chewing on it. I know it's just a mouse, but hearing the crunch of bones while watching something eat is really disgusting.

I went to the kitchen to investigate what could be useful in this situation. I settled on a napkin and a ziplock bag. Upon return to the carnivorous animal, I decided to direct my attention to the cat, and ignore the mouse. I began petting Litti and he soon stopping gnawing and turned slightly away from the now ripped open carcass. I got out a cat toy to get him even farther away, and while he was distracted, I threw the napkin over the mouse. Now it was out of sight from the beast. I wasn't sure how keen of a sense of smell the old cat had, but I took my chances. I ended or play session and stood to go nonchalantly, hoping Litti would do the same. Success! He went to this water dish. So I easily scooped up the napkin-mouse combination with my ziplock bag glove and deposited it in the trash can. Germans separate their trash quite a bit, and I was tempted to put it into the bio container. But I decided on the general Restmüll.

It's a jungle out there.

mein neues Fahrrad

Reason number 97 to love Miki: he got me a new bike.

Well actually I guess his dad did. And by new bike, I mean it's one of their old ones that no one uses anymore. But regardless, Miki brought it to me from Prague via train the week that my parents were here. He was really nervous about meeting my parents, and I was really frustrated that we were running late to dinner with Monika and Dieter especially since Dieter was waiting with the car. So it didn't make the best first impression of the quality of our relationship on my parents, but he passed the test nonetheless (I hope).

But this bike is new to me, and let me tell you, it puts me in a whole new league when I bike to work in the mornings. This bike has 18 speeds. That's 17 more than my old bike. Unfortunately, the seat is regular sized, so I no longer have the luxury of the old lady giant comfortable seat. That took some getting used to. And there's no basket, so I have to wear my bag, which results in sweaty back on days when it's hot. I think I'll start attaching it to the flat thing on the back (does that have a name?).

All sorts of people bike around Berlin. Not too many wear helmets though. And as I mentioned before, thanks to Miki, I wear my helmet everyday. Before, I fit in the category of overly cautious leisurely biker, since my bike had one speed, an old lady seat, and a basket. I couldn't really bike that fast, but I still had my helmet.

Now I'm running with the big dogs. On my first morning out with the new 18 speeder, I found myself in the midst of an unofficial urban bike race. Not ever having a bike with different speed options in the city before, I wasn't mindful of the stop light strategy. Successful urban bikers know to down shift into a lower gear while approaching a red light to increase the starting velocity once the light turns green again. These berliners are hard-core. They try to pass each other like mad. This unofficial bike race I stumbled upon was pretty well representative of the biker-types out there. Our contestants were:
The business man (wearing a business suit and a bicycle helmet)
The man in full spandex armor.
The half armored man wearing the spandex biking shorts but just a normal sweatshirt.
Me, the casually dressed young adult.
And finally the woman in her 30-40s with her purse in her basket and only one speed, yet pedaling like mad to keep up with the pack.

It was especially crazy do the construction we were biking through as well. And it's even more like a race because the traffic lights in Germany turn yellow before they turn green as well as before they turn red (fun fact!). I can't remember who pulled ahead first. I think it was half spandex man. Another thing I've learned about myself in the past month is that I don't like taking biking to work that seriously. So now when the pack comes, I just hang back and let them use their stop light strategy to its fullest potential.

der Besuch meiner Eltern

My parents' visit has come and gone. It was an interesting experience. Homesickness seems to hit me hard every 3 to 4 months (whether I admit it to myself or not). Seeing as it had been 5 months since I had been to states and 3 months since I had seen anyone I know from there, I was very ready to see my parents. So that aspect was very nice. But it was a very interesting time for me for several reasons:

1. I live a pretty solitary existence here and like to not stand out as American, or really any foreigner for that matter. That's really impossible to do with my mom (no offense Mom).

2. This is the first time I was ever out of the country with my parents. I have been to Germany 3 times in the past 7 years so am pretty used to things looking European. The last time my parents were in Europe was like 30 years ago. I didn't think of how much more of a culture shock it would be for them. (not that anything 'shocking' happened)

3. I was sort of hosting them, but at the same time they wanted to find their own way around and do their own thing and let me work and do what I needed to do. So this was also the first vacation I've ever been on with my parents where I was in the lead.

I didn't consider any of these things ahead of time, which lead to my getting kind of annoyed, and not finding some things as funny or entertaining, and my feeling a bit exhausted. In hindsight, I felt bad for the low tolerance I had and how unprepared I was at times. I really wanted to plan a good visit and some of the stuff I didn't have time for or I didn't research enough ahead of time. Thinking back now I wish I had been more laid back. My parents sure were, and they enjoyed themselves tremendously. I didn't realize how much of a perfectionist I am. I mean, I was definitely one in high school. But in college I had so much on my plate that I was just happy to get things done. And now I don't care too much about PBDE's and intern work is pretty tedious, so I just kind of do my thing, I'll admit, sometimes half-heartedly. As I told my parents, I'm learning a lot about myself this year Granted some things are a bit superficial like I could eat pizza for just about every meal, and I could never be a vegan because I like cheese too much, other things are deeper, like when I really care about something I put a lot of time and energy into it and am a total perfectionist (i.e. my parents visit, from the past: the Marching 97, and from very recently: helping plan Mel's Bachelorette Party) and I'm way more of a family person than I ever realized before. I miss being with my parents more than anything even when I get annoyed at my mom after like two days for asking lots of questions (again, no offense).

This was deeper than I expected. I hope you brought your floaties.

Entschuldigung

I have a backlog of topics I wish to write about (in my head) and will try to procrastinate less on silly things like facebook and google reader and more on sharing interesting stories from my life. I was going to go chronologically but instead will go in the order that I think of them/am inspired to put down on 'paper'.

Visitors

My parents arrived safely, though a bit delayed yesterday morning. They got bumped to the first class (or whatever politically correct terminology they're using nowadays - Business economy?) so they were well rested and very full upon arrival. Since the seats recline like lazy boys and they give you a 4 course meal. Today is their first day on their own. The test will be whether or not they make it here for lunch.

Meeting Jesus

So life has been a smidgen stressful lately due to causes partly my own and partly due to the financial crisis. Long story short, I found myself without a source of income for my internship at the end of February. Confident (or foolishly thinking) that I would be able to find free-lance English work on the side, I volunteered to remain at UBA so I could finish my project and publish two posters for international conventions.

And the English jobs did pop up quickly, only to fall-through one by one frustrating week after frustrating week. I've gotten very good at making my euro stretch and making the cheapest meals imaginable (I'm eating lentils and potatoes as I write this) but there was one thing that I relied heavily on: my bike. Riding my bike all around Berlin allows me to not have to pay for the U-bahn, ever. And while 2,10 might not seem like much, that's more than enough for 2 loaves of bread.

This Tuesday I was feeling particualrly low as my business English student that I thought was a gaurentee, said he had to cancel because he didn't have the money. To top it off I got a flat tire on the way to work; the same tire, for the third time. Not wanting to spend three and a half loaves of bread to take my bike on the S-bahn (you have to buy a ticket for the bike too) and since it was nice out, I decided to walk my broken bike home. I have a tire patch kit, so I could fix it and be back in business the next day.

So there I was, disheartened, pushing my pathetic little bicycle 10 km from UBA to my place in Wedding. I was about 6 km there when I passed a man talking on his cell phone. It sounded like he said something to me, and maybe he did, but I wasn't going to stop since it sounded akin to a cat call. But then my bike stops me. I look down and the rubber band thing that seems to serve no purpose other than cause problems that is also shoved inside the tire along with the innertube, had fallen out in some sections and managed to wrap itself around the gear thingy of the back tire. So much so that the tire would no longer turn. At this point I was pretty numb to crap happening in life, so I didn't throw a temper tantrum like I would if this were just one bad day in a sea of relatively normal ones.

What happened next was nothing out of the ordinary. The guy had ended his cell phone call, and walked over to me, asking if my bike was broken. Well, obviously. Ok, I didn't say that, I said 'Wie, bitte?' a lot. Which is 'What?' in English because his German was very hard to understand through his thick accent which I soon learned was Palestinian. Of course next came what always comes next when I have trouble understanding people: the guess my nationality game. Rarely does anyone guess American on the first try. I don't know why this is, and I'm not complaining. I like that I blend in. I think this guy guessed German, Polish and English before I told him I was American. So then he starts speaking English. Or attempting too. That was fun. He definitely wins the 'worst English I've heard' award. It would have been easier to communicate in German. But no, this guy insisted on speaking Deutschlish (combination of the two). He was telling me how much he would like to help me. Saying I should leave my bike locked up at his shop (he's a car mechanic) and he could give me a ride home...but only if I wasn't afraid. He could probably read the look of skeptism on my face (not that I was trying to hide it). But my skeptism came with good reason since he doesn't know me and is probaly somewhere in the neighborhood of 40. Plus he was obviously trying to impress me by talking about his big appartment and telling me I have a beautiful name. He said he could fix my bike for me, and I could come get it the next day. Well, I had no money to give this guy and every intent to fix it myself. So I told him that. And he insisted that I didn't have to pay, he just wanted to help.

If I could have pushed my bike, I would have simply walked away. But since the back tire wouldn't move anyway, and I was tired from walking 6km already plus the 3 or so I had to walk in the morning after my tire went flat, I thought, 'what else can I do?' and accepted his offer. It was only a short way home. Right before we reached my street he asked if I had eaten yet (it was about 7:30 pm). I sighed and said 'no'. I was hesitant because I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible simply because the less time one spends alone with a strange man the better, but I was also sick at the thought of going home and eating rice for the 3rd meal in a row. But then he says, 'I get you some chicken. You like chicken? You take it with you and eat at home.' and he pulls up to a place not far from my house. I was immediately relieved. I thought his asking if I had eaten was his ploy to get me to go to dinner and spend more time with him. But no, he simply pulled over to the side of the road, left the keys in the car and joked 'don't steal my car' before running in to buy a meal to go.

And as I sat in the car waiting for him to return, with aching feet and an empty stomach, I thought to myself; this is Jesus. I am meeting Jesus through this middle-aged Palestinian car mechanic who barely speaks English. I've taught campers every summer about how we experience God the most through other people. And it's not that I don't believe that, I do. It's just that unfortunately, this world we live in isn't full of people who want to help you without expecting something in return.

He dropped me off around the corner and went home to eat my feast.

I wish this was the nice happy ending, but unfortunately, my bike got stolen from outside his shop that night. So now I have no bike. But he apologized profusely and offered to buy me a new one, so I believe that Jesus didn't steal my bike.

Wo ist die Toilette?

Ok, I understand that in Germany and a lot of Europe you have to pay to use public restrooms. (The musical Urinetown must not have the same affect in Europe.) I've actually only had to do this once my entire 6+ months here and that was this past weekend in the Dresden train station. It was 1 € which is ridiculous, but I had been holding it for the entire 2 hour car ride, so I was willing to part with it. But what I don't understand is the number of people who publicly urinate on Bismarkplatz. Today was the third time that I came upon someone releiving himself in the bushes around UBA. I thought Grunewald was the nice part of Berlin. Maybe it's foolish of me to translate 'nice part' into 'you won't see people peeing everywhere'. Today as I was biking into work, right as I turned past this group of three old ladies out walking their dogs, I was faced with a backpack, that was strapped to a man facing the bushes, legs slightly wider than shoulder width apart, and sure enough, graciously draining his kidneys on the lawn. I wanted to ask him if he was aware that it was 10:30 in the morning and that he was in plain view of the relatively heavy traffic, but I didn't want to miss my green light.

It did, however, conjure up memories of the other times I had stumbled upon other men in similar positions. The first time, I was legitimately frightened. This was in the pre-bike days, so I was leaving work and heading toward the S-bahn. I wasn't even off of UBA's property yet. I was beginning to pass through the small walkway as usual, when I stopped myself, and quickly changed directions because I spotted a man creepily standing half-in the bushes. I wasn't in the getting-abducted-by-a-strange-man mood, so I decided to steer clear of the situation. It dawned on me later what he was doing in there.

The second one was kind of my fault. I was going someplace besides home after work, so I was waiting for the bus on the other side of the street than usual. I had to wait like 8 minutes and it was a bit cold, so I decided to walk laps around the little sausage/coffee shack that was by the bus stop. I wasn't exactly walking on a road or really anywhere that would be heavily traveled. Sure enough, on my first time around there was a man peeing. This was the most embarrassing one, because he really was trying to be discreet and he picked a better spot than the creepy guy at the entrance of UBA. And I was just moseying around trying to stay warm. Apparently we were participating in a twisted version of hide-and-seek and neither of us knew it.

Hip Hip Hurray for All of Us!

On this Earth there are some seas,
And the forests filled with trees.
There are mountains up so high.
Above it all is the blue sky.
Different people everywhere;
Different voice, face, clothes, and hair.

And over in Africa having fun,
There lives a hippo that weighs a ton!
Hip-hip-hippopotamus
hip hip hurray for all of us!
hip hip hippopotamus
hip hip hurray for all of us!


After a few minor adjustments, this church camp favorite about God creating all of us, turns into a fun song about diversity. It fits nicely into a lesson on 'Animate Nature' right after you ask the kids' names and favorite animals, making sure to spend some time acting like each animal that gets mentioned.

On Thursday I went to the Prague, where I gave a demo lesson at Bumble Bee School of Creative Children. It's an English speaking preschool. The position they can offer me is that of a 'Free Time Specialist'. But in order to get the job, I had to do a demo lesson. Meaning I came into the school and did the theme lesson of the day. The entire month of March is focused on 'Animate Nature', so after the above mentioned acting like animals followed by hippo song, I then got out a map of the world and clip out pictures of animals that I had printed out from the internet, which probably violated some sort of copyright law. We went around talking about the different animals they had and where they lived, and then glued them on the map. Then they colored the map with the animals. Then we acted like trees and did the 'Goin' on a Bear Hunt' song/chant.

The entire time the head teacher and the director of the school were sitting in the back of the room silently watching (and judging) so of course, I'm simultaneously teaching and criticizing myself on how things are going. If you look at the website, it mentions often how they are a school that uses 'non-directive teaching' meaning, teachers are just there to give suggestions and let the full creative potential of the students blossom and blah blah blah. So I was trying not to be too directive, but at the same time, not lose control of these 10 screaming 5 year olds. At the end of the bear hunt song, I looked at my watch. I had been instructed to give about a 30 minute lesson. It had been about 30 minutes, but I also had two other things I could do if I needed to keep going. I then asked the director, "is that ok?" or something to that affect, I don't remember now, and she responded, "sure, just finish up however you want to". Well I didn't exactly have some sort of grand finale planned, so I just reviewed the two animals whose names they didn't know in English and said my goodbyes.

Off I went into a room with the director. "So, how do you think it went?" This woman is the queen of showing no emotion. I had no idea what she was thinking, so I began spewing all of the things that I had noticed were going wrong. Finally she stopped me and asked for positive remarks. And then said "I think it went great; a little long, but great." She was super impressed with my organizational skills and ability to control some of the out of control boys in the class. And was impressed with how quickly I picked up some of their names. (Of course the only ones I could pick up were David and Victor and the other ones that weren't ridiculously Czech sounding). But I apparently gave one of the best demo lessons she has ever seen. She seemed the most worried that I wasn't interested anymore (because some of those boys were really unruly).

The next step was taking 3 Psychological Assessment Tests to make sure I'm a good fit for the job. I finished those last night, so hopefully my motivation and priorities are a good fit to be a free time specialist. If all goes well, I'll have a job in Prague for next year, and can begin the long, tedious, Czech work visa process. Hip Hip Hurray!

Dein Konto ist abgelaufen

I haven't had a computer at work for the past 2 and a half days. Thankfully, it worked after lunch today. I got a glimpse of what my life would be like in this was 1995 again. It's not that I need to have access to a computer 24/7. In fact, I would be perfectly content without a computer (at work) if my job involved a little less waiting. I'll be the first to admit, sometimes I don't work quite as efficiently as I could when I'm on the computer. For example I'll wait on the computer for the GPC or Turbo Vap, or Collmn or Accelorated Solvent Extraction or you name it, it involves waiting, to be completed in its entirety before pre-rinsing the glasses for the next step or something. But this week I worked as efficiently as possible. I even started with the sedimentary extraction while the luqid one was finishing and I still had some rather long stretches of nothing to do. I cleaned my office, wrote a letter, and drew pictures. It's not that I need the internet so badly, but I couldn't even type up protocol or look at past results. I don't know how you folks from previous generations did it. Two and half days was enough for me.

Aschermittwoch

This year for lent I'm giving up the snooze button. My personal best(?) is 4 hours. Granted sometimes I'm overzealous about what time I think I'm going to get up so I can get stuff done in the mornings. Regardless, I'm hoping giving up the snooze button with force me to think about what time I need to be at work the next day, becaues now I use the method, 'eh, I'll get there when I get up.' And that doesn't really result in my getting to work before 10am ever. Granted my colleagues don't care and my work day is rather flexible, but getting there eariler would allow me to leave earlier meaning I can also stop being late for things like Blasorchester practice.

Along with giving up the snooze button, I'm going to try to not be late to anything. Even if I get up on the first buzz, I sometimes still sit around (usually on the computer) and end up leaving the house significantly later than I had originally planned. And I have a problem underestimating the time it will take me to get places.

Of course, I'm off to a great start considering I hit snooze twice this morning. But I didn't think of until the ride to work this morning. So now the big test will be whether or not I'm late to practice tonight.

Fahrradsicherheit

You haven't heard many bike-tales from me lately not because I'm getting the hang of finding my way around Berlin, or that I've learned how to safely maneuver around curbs and pedestrians, but because once again I got a flat tire...and it's been cold. Also, the two weeks that Monika and Dieter were on vacation, Dieter gave me his Monatskarte so I could ride the subway for free. And since it was January and therefore pretty cold, I took advantage of it. But this time instead of paying 20 euro to have some guy put in a new tube, I bought a repair kit and Miki fixed it for me.

And if fixing bike tires isn't reason enough to love him, hopefully this next bit will win your approval.

Fahrradsicherheit = bicycle safety

Before I blew out my tire again, I was biking to work from Monika and Dieter's (which is less than 4 km away; a nice break from the normal 10+) so that Miki could have the run of the city while I was at work. During this small window of time, my lights officially ceased to function. The front one had been working on and off for about a month, and the back light never worked. This was unacceptable to Miki. My lack of helmet was also unacceptable. When we were in Kaufland buying a water cooker to replace the one I melted, (that's a great story) we looked for bike lights. The lights he had in mind weren't there, but there were helmets. Despite my childish protests about it 'not being cool', Miki clearly wasn't leaving until I picked one out. The next morning he got up and made sure I went to the bike store to buy lights before I went to work (so that I would have them for the ride home). Oh, and he also reminded me to wear my helmet when I 'forgot' it on the way out. I had to borrow 5 euro from him to pay for the lights since they were more expensive than I had expected and the Fahrrad shop doesn't take Visa. When I tried to pay him back he turned it down and said "Consider it my contribution to your Fahrradsicherheit."

So Mom, I have a helmet now! I continue to wear it regularly; it's not as uncool as I originally thought.

Bioverfügbarkeit von PBDEs in Hausstaub

I just did a presentation at work about our project. Since I've never actually explained what it is I'm doing, now seems like a good time. I'll to make this as quick and painless as I can.

First, a translation of the title of the this post, which was also the title of my presentation: Bio availability of PBDEs in house dust.

Now a translation of that title: PBDEs = polybrominated diphenyl ethers. They look like this:
And can have anywhere from 1 - 10 Bromines on them.

In the late 1970s manufactures began using them on household things like furniture, carpet, and electronics as a fire retardant. This was all well and good until scientists noticed a dramatic increase in the number of cases of feline hyperthyroidism. (Cats with thyroid problems) They did further studies (some involving women and breast milk) and found that it is indeed these PBDEs that are the culprit.

In addition to thyroid problems, they have also been found to cause neurological developement problems in children and they are endocrine-disrupting.

In 2004 the EU (European Union) banned the production and usage as flame retardant of penta and octa PBDEs (the ones with 5 and 8 bromines on them) and the US only had one manufacturer of PBDEs so they agreed to also stop making them. However PBDE 209, which is deca PBDE is still at large.

This deca PBDE can break down into several other different types of PBDEs in the human body.

If you having a dusty home, you can breathe easy (hehe). Inhalation isn't that big of a deal. The main exposure route for people getting PBDEs into their system is hand to mouth contact. As you may have already concluded, it's worse for children since they go around licking everything and putting lots of things in their mouth.

**I don't know how paranoid some of you get, but before you go around disinfecting like a mad man, please note that most furniture and carpet today doesn't use PDBEs.**

Right now I am working with dust samples from the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST 2585). We made synthetic salivia, stomach, and intestinal juices. We've sort of created an in lab digestive system. We put 1 gram of dust through this system and see what comes out. At the end we're left with around 0.6 g of the original 1. And we've determined that somewhere from 10-40% of the PBDEs originally present in the dust are absorbed into the digestive tract. We have plenty more samples to work with and we need to continue to refine the method. But that is the basic jist of my work.

Oh, and the state of Washington has also caught on: link

Bilder

Click Here! If you want to see pictures from my Christmas in the Czech Republic. Featuring pictures of the infamous Miki. You can see how beautiful he is! It's the same album I posted on facebook so if you've seen it there you've already seen the pictures.

Gefühlssache Revolution

This was the title of our most recent colaboration project with the Blasorchester. They took players from three Orchestras: Zentralkapelle Berlin, Blasorchester das Jungen Ensemble Berlin (the one with which I normally play) and Bläser des Coppi-Gymnasiums, combined with singers for numerous different Choirs around Berlin plus three soloists (1 tenor, 2 basses) and together we performed some sort of Oratorium that was I think written by the guy who directed us. I don't know what it was about because I never read the words, and Miki couldn't get much out of it besides that he thinks it had to do with socialism.

I had gotten Miki a ticket since this was the first night he came to Berlin. The performers were allowed to watch the rest of the performance (our Oratorium was only about 20 minutes long) so I snuck in the side aisle along with a bunch of other young people dressed in black. I had no idea what to expect, because, like usual, I didn't really read up on anything or really pay attention when anyone said anything that didn't relate to when we had to be somewhere (even though I still ended up showing up late every evening thanks to the cat and my incredible cooking skills that set off the smoke detector one night).

**Side Note: I just answered the phone correctly in my office! I am learning how to be Germany.**

As it turns out the second part of the show that I saw (I missed a little during the transition) was at first two battling rock bands, one representing good, and one representing evil. They were getting challenges from the voice of God. He was asking them to answer questions about Revolutions (what makes a good revolution, what was the best revolution, und so weiter). They were earn points after each song and then the points were displayed on the walls (it was a multi-media production) and I learned later from Miki, that all of the point totals that were also years, were years of different revolutions. At this point, I was sitting on the steps and Miki was in the audience. It wasn't until after intermission that we sat together. It worked out nicely since my knowledge of European history doesn't really extend past the German boarders, and Miki doesn't have nearly the receptive German skills as I do (along he's studied it for about just as long). With our powers combined, his knowledge of unamerican history and my ability to understand fast speaking Germans, we were able to pretty much peice together the majority of the jokes.

Oh and I say rock bands because they were rockin'. However, they played a plethera of types of music and the instrumentation: flute/bari sax, 2 clarinets, 3 altos, 2 tenors, 2 trombones, 4 trumpets, 2 horns, 2 tubae, and a rythm section (minus a piano) so I guess they should be called jazz bands. And I actually listed the instrumentation for the band that played the entire second half, but the little bands were like that big one split in half essentially. They were really good. I was very entertained. They played until 11 and the whole thing started at 8, yet I wasn't getting tired or bored or eager to get going or anything. I'm not going to lie, there were some really bizarre guests they had come out to sing some songs. And some wierd costumes and/or videos that accompanied the songs, but that was all part of the charm.

**Warning Adult Content**

The adventure of determining the sex of Litti continues. The main conclusion I have come to is that I should look under Meeko's tail more often. I apparently have no idea how to diferentiate between the gentials of male and female cats. Miki is visiting this week. He got here on Friday (Miki is Olga's brother, he plays the accordion and was briefly mentioned in the Christmas and New Years re-cap. He definitely deserves his own post, but I've never been one to wear my heart on my sleeve, so this is all you're getting.) and has been accompanying me on the cat feeding expeditions. The gender of Litti has been the subject of many debates. Miki (pronounded like the famous Disney mouse, short for Mikuláš, which is czech for Nikolas) has never had a cat though, so he doesn't have much of an opinion. He thinks it's a girl. Since to me the genitals are very non-descript, I decided to check for nipples. Female cats (and dogs, and pigs, and probably a lot of other mammals) have a lot of these. But cats also have a lot of fur, so feline-nipple-finding is no easy task. Litti is not declawed either, so everytime I try to grope his belly to feel for nipples, I end up getting scratched, and then he runs away. I've stopped trying so Monika and Dieter don't return home to an angry cat. And I've also decided that it's a boy. My main reasoning (besides that I think his face looks masculine) is that since they let him outside, I would assume is either spayed or neutered. And Litti doesn't have the baggy skin resulting from a missing uterus like Meeko does. Also, I think I see tiny balls.

Katzen

I'm house/cat sitting for Monika and Dieter (my host parents from last summer in Bonn who now live in Berlin) while they are on vacation for the next two weeks. It's a pretty sweet deal in that I get to live in their very nice appartment, eat their food, and watch their TV. Sure I have to do the kitty litter and feed Litti (the cat) and set up the latter every night so it can go outside, but still, it's pretty sweet gig. Espicially since their place is really close to my work. So I can sleep later too! There's just one problem. Actually it'S not really a problem, it's just kind of funny. I suppose there's an easy solution as well. I don't know the gender of Litti. I actually didn't know its name either until it was written on a tupperware container of chicken in the fridge. That's right, they cooked two weeks worth of chicken so that I can give Litti some everyday while they were gone. But as I think about my entire extended family, I realize that I am surronded by people who are similarily crazy about their cats. Don't get me wrong, I love Meeko, she's the background of my computer at work, and cats are WAY better than dogs (I'm still mad about the Shadow throwing up on me while in bed and the camper being bitten incident) but still, I don't really get it.

Vánoce

It's been quite the Holiday season. I did a lot and for the sake of your time and mine will post the highlights in list form. So here goes...

I did the following:
- Arrived in Prague a day late because I forgot my passport but as it turned out never really needed a passport.
- Successfully ate the Christmas carp without choking on any bones.
- Ate more soup than probably ever before in my life.
- Tried yeast (it's disgusting)(thanks, Olga)
- Played Kuhhandel until 5am Christmas morning.
- Went to a Czech church service.
- Played scrabble in Czech. (I was on someone's team and actually contributed one word: Depo)
- Learned how to say the following words in Czech: cat, mouse, dog, hello, cheers, yes (that's all I can remember)Oh, and Christmas (that's the title of this post)
- Attempted to sing along with the traditional Czech Christmas songs and other folk songs that were accompanied by the guitar and accordion.
- Sang the following with the accordion: The Star Spangled Banner, My Country Tis of Thee (listed in the book as God Save the Queen) and America from West Side Story (I had to teach Miki the rhythm.)
- Played ice hockey on a frozen pond.
- Rode on a Tandem bike.
- Went jogging in the dark.
- Ate my weight in Christmas cookies (I'm not sure that's accurate but it certainly seemed like it).
- Missed a train.
- Missed a plane.
- Successfully didn't cry when the two aforementioned things happened.
- Ate Danish birthday cake and balls (it's what they call buns).
- And most importantly, it appears I didn't forget any German!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a wish you the much happiness in 2009.