Last night I stumbled home from work, stopped at the grocery store, and then collapsed into bed. I thought it would only be temporary, because I had promised Tina and Amol that I would bake my "famous" chocolate chip cookies (um, despite the fact that it isn't like an old family recipe, its just Nestle Tollhouse cookies). But I had a growing stomach and headache all day, and it just overwhelmed me when I got home.
I hardly slept at all, very feverish, I alternated between boiling hot and freezing cold. The only reason I dragged myself into work today was because its several of the students' last days.
Oh, the Dilbert-session yesterday went SUPRISINGLY well.
And for the day's entertainment: Here's a picture of the members of our office.
And here are the girls of our office.
Goodbye, Mom, Adieu, Adieu
I put mom on the plan this morning back home to Florida (via Dallas, TX - crazy!). I don't understand why she wanted to stay a few more days. The airport was nuts, with (useless if you ask me) security people holding up the check in lines. Then the big windfall: I sent mom home with a suitcase full of my stuff. It weighed 40 kilos (100 pounds). The other suitcase weighed 20 kilos (50 pounds). Fortunately (we thought) we had a luggage allowence of 64 kilos per person, and the combined weight came just under that. What they didn't tell us was that it had to be evenly distributed between the two bags. This lead to a rather large fee to be paid to check the bags (redistributing the weight was impossible -- I feel sorry for anyone who opens either of those bags and then tries to repack them). The weird thing is the guy we paid kept insisting we had 330 pounds of baggage. I can't imagine that.
I was so proud of her, though, she achieved the ultimate goal of all travelers: not to leave the country with a single penny of the local currency with you (why not spend it, instead of letting it waste away in a drawer in a country where it can't be used?).
And back to work (also unfortunately)
My enthusiasm for work is RAPIDLY diminishing. Yesterday I went to a presentation of another exiting praktikant. All I have to say about it is: Thank god I don't do CFD!. Then there was the embarrassment of when I went to clap at the end of the presentation, and instead everyone pounded on their desks with their fists (I have to admit, that was more fun, it felt very primitive).
Anyway, it is now a promise that I won't be able to put my side tubes in the lab before I leave, so now I have to teach someone how to do the experiments. I thought it would be one of my fellow students (who are more fun). Instead its my absolute least favorite full time engineer - the Dilbert character I have mentioned before.
I am extremely tired, but feel like I need to make sure to put together an effort to go skiing this weekend. I want to go skiing, really I do, though staying home and vegging sounds much more fun.
And in the latest turn of events, Tina said that Oliver (often referred to as "our boss's boss" in this journal) stopped her in the hall and asked her how she was doing. She said she was tired from all the packing. He was surprised that she was leaving and asked when is your presentation? To which she replied that Bruno (our shared mentor) said that it would be easier not to do a presentation or exit paper (as long as we didn't need one for school), but just thoroughly document our work (a painstaking process, I might add). Well, Oliver replied something along the lines of "I will have to have a talk with Bruno." This unfortunately means, chances are, I will have to do an exit presentation. It will probably only take a day to put together. But still, one more thing to add to my list for the next two weeks. THEN, I realized the worse crisis of it all: Since I haven't had to wear a suit to work (except for the perfunctory first few days), I put them on the plane to America with my mom.
So the moral of this story is: I am prepared to do a technical presentation, BUT, whatever am I supposed to wear??
Its very sad, today is the last full day of my mom's visit. Today, the itinerary I gave her is to shop Baden's streets, see the castle, go to ThermalBaden, get her hair done (in that order, so she can tire herself out and relax). Of course, I imagine she got stuck on the shopping step and never made it to anything else, but we'll see.. and by then, I will be home from work. The plan is cheese fondue for dinner tonight (sorry, Karen, I can't make a detailed description of it like your waffle experience.).
Today I came to the realization that I actually have 3 weekends left in Switzerland before I go home, not two weekends (my flight home is on a Monday). This is a very exciting thing - because it means more ski days! It also means I am going to go to Nuernburg to their big Christmas market (yeah!) next week.
I can't believe I only have 2 weeks and 3 days of work left. It has gone so fast - definitely as fast as any of my other internships, but this one was TWICE as long as my previous work experiences. Its really sad too, because I feel like I am leaving with unfinished projects (that was the norm for 3 month internships, but I expected in 6 months I would be able to complete something...). Its not TOO sad, though, because its not like I am emotionally attached to my work (its hard to get worked up with excitement about a burner for a gas turbine -- its not exactly a space ship). I would have liked to see the rest of my experiments go into the combustion lab, though, instead I get to leave all my hard work to the next praktikant who will get to start right away with the exciting stuff.
Because I am leaving soon, I am definitely starting to think about life in Houston. Weighing heavily on my mind right now is finding an apartment (though I have arranged a room in a house until mid-Feb.). I have this "perfect" apartment picture in my mind. But, I also have a "perfect" dog and a "perfect" car, and I don't think I will have either of them until I've been in Houston for at least 6 months (if not a year). The good news is that Sarah is sounding more and more like she is going to be coming to Houston! Its good to know that I will know a few people there (oh, there's Ron too, who's awesome, but I don't know him really well -- we've just shared the torment of classes together, and shared torment is definitely a bonding experience, I must admit, but I still don't know him like I know Sarah. I also met other random people while I was there for the week in June, but who knows if I'll run into them again or what).
Ok, enough babble, work (as mindless as it is) does need to get done.. I need to right instructions for my combustion "trumpet" (as my boss's boss has taken to calling it) so the next student can do the exciting work when combustion lab time actually becomes available..
In work, wishing I were still in bed sleeping. Mom and I have had a great time so far, though I don't really have time to go into details - we saw: lakes, mountains, cities (in that order). Today we were going to wander, but the weather is rainy and cold, so who knows what we'll do this afternoon. I think I have finally worn her out though!
Mom and I are in Bern, at the ONION FESTIVAL. Very entertaining. She is at her first internet cafe and really struggling with the German keyboards and giggling wildly.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I will be sharing a traditional dinner of stuffed shells with my mom for this festive occasion. It was fun to explain to the people at work all the turkey-day holiday traditions though. The sad part is, there are several ex-pat-Americans ("ex-patriated", I mean) here and I mentioned Thanksgiving to them and they had completely forgetten. Its such a good holiday, all about gorging on food and EVERYONE in America celebrates it and they just went and gave it up :).
My mom arrived safe and sound today. She had a surprising amount of energy for someone who has spent the last 18 hours traveling here, changing time zones into Dallas and then here. But she made it.
I learned that my aunts have decided to DEEP FRY our turkey this year. I take back all those horrible things I said to the southerners (namely Eddie and Scott) about how no one in their right mind (I mean no Yankee) would ever consider such a hideous, unhealthy thing. But, apparently, they have a huge vat of oil that they will dip the poor turkey into and it will emerge as a fully fried bird. As the Swiss would say: "That's not normal!"
So, the THWUGA issue came out today. That was definitely the most fun 'Nique issue to work on. Since I was bored at work, I spent a little time reliving Technique memories :). Anyway, I found these pictures and wanted to put them somewhere before they disappear into the depths of my computer forever...
Editorial board (and random others) posing for our cover shot for the first issue - over a year ago. I am the first "E"
Here is Karen posing. She's kind of like a de facto Technique participant. Anyway, this was for an article about her Marshall scholarship and studying in England. I had suggested that Chris get a picture of her posing naked with the British flag draped over her. But quiet, kinda-innocent Chris had a difficult time broaching the subject with firey Karen, so the picture ended up clothed.
This is (I think) Chris's birthday party. He was the ed-in-chief man. From left to right is Kent (famous for funny pictures of him), Sarah, Carter (famous for his funny hat and living in a town that is a replica of Stratford-Upon-Avon), me, and Daniel (of the floppy hair).
And this was the grand finale of the season, the Technique vs. Student Gov't all star softball game. We only lost by one point, and SGA brought ringers AND I was the ultimate third base coach (though Sarah was an even better pitcher)
Turkey-free day is coming again
I guess its hard to call it "Turkey Day" for two reasons: I'm in Switzerland and will not be eating turkey this year AND I'm a novice-vegetarian and will probably not be eating turkey any year.
My mom arrives early tomorrow morning (whoo hooo!) so the excitement here is due to pick up again soon.
Until then...
I just realized I have ANOTHER meeting again tomorrow. With this realization, I realized (hm, too many r-words there) that I haven't actually done any work since LAST THURSDAY. After the meeting last week, I was supervising my lab clean-up, yesterday I wasn't mentally all here (my mind was still on vacation in London), and today, well, so far today isn't looking any better. This means I am about to begin a frantic rush to get something accomplished before 10 a.m. tomorrow.
I am back safely, have tons of work. London rocked, didn't do too much, had good sushi, saw Buckingham palace, saw Harry Potter (again), saw Kiss Me, Kate, woke up WAY too early, rushed to the plane via multiple forms of public transport. Weather in Switzerland is clear and sunny, a little on the cold side (people kept thinking I was crazy after repeatedly announcing how WArm it was in England.. I guess the Gulf Stream is a wonderful thing). Karen has more detail, pictures, etc. here.
Still alive in England. I leave on a 755 a.m. flight tomorrow to go back to (groan) WORK.
Anyway, having a great time, eating well, Karen was awesome(check out Karen's journal for pictures of the festivities). Saw Harry Potter twice (more recently today in the HUGE Leichester Square theatre that was home to its world premier.) Tonight, going to see Kiss Me, Kate. Tons of fun.
Even after Switzerland, I can still promise you that London is, indeed, the most expensive city in the world.
Cheers!
You'll have to pardon mz spelling. This damned ENGLISH keyboard has the letters in all the wrong places. It took me 5 months to get used to the German keyboards, and now someone goes and SWITCHES things back. The y and z are the worst. I tried to visit Sarah's diary this morning, and ended up typing in grazbeal.diarzland.com Hmm. Not easy.
Add to that, Karen is using a mutated Mac keyboard in which the keys are actually compressed together so you would have to have the hands of an elf to fit them on the keyboard.
So, with that prelude out of the way...
Merry Olde England
I made it to London in one piece. I sat most of the flight *in my very uncomfortable* EasyJet seat, thinking how amazing it was that I was just sitting at our kitchen table in Baden, Switzerland, talking to a girl from China and one from Spain, and then in a few short hours I would be in LONDON with people from America. I had a citizen-of-the-world-moment
Let's see, coming in through customs was terrible. It was the worst passage I've had yet. For instance, all the EU/EEU/Brits could go through one door. But everyone else had to go through the other. Now, in Switzerland, we have 3 doors: 1 for Swiss, 1 for EU/EEU/U.S./Canada, 1 for others. The first two move really fast. If I were Swiss I would insist on a referendum to eliminate the EU door at their airports - it seems the courtesy is not being returned. So half the flight got stuck in this really long line, as their was only one customs officer there. And EACH person got a grilling that included normal questions like: Where are you going? Who are you staying with? How long are you going to be here? BUT they also got completely unanswerable questions that included: How do we know you are staying with that person or at that hotel? Do you have any proof? Have you been in England recently? (yes, in May, sir) Then WHY don't you have a stamp in your passport? (well, you'll notice my passport was stolen, AND, before Sept 11, you usually had to ASK them to stamp your passport or they wouldn't).
Anyway, the point is it took a really long time to get everyone through the line. I felt REALLY sorry for the older Indian couple that was traveling on our plane. Subject to horrendous racial profiling (I imagined, they suspected they could/possibly be Muslim and they were the only dark skinned people on the flight), their bags were searched twice at the Zurich airport, twice at the London airport, and their customs grilling lasted about 20 minutes (all inane questions).
At that, when my bag finally came off the conveyor, my Swiss Army Knife (which I had hastily placed on the top because you can no longer carry these in your purse out of fear that I could hijack the plane with the might of a 1 inch blade) and a box of chocolates I brought to the kind soul who Karen convinced to pick me up from the aiport had been "pilfered" from my bag. I guess that's the way things go, someone must've gotten a nice souvenir. What the nicest part of this whole thing was being able to explain IN ENGLISH what happened, in detail, and have the official party actually understand my words.
On Cranfield
Well, I haven-'t looked around too much yet, I plan to go wandering today. But I can report evrything that Karen says about it is true:
1. Its small
2. Its in the middle of nowhere (though you can see the bright lights of the "big city" of Milton Keynes in the distance)
3. There's EXREMELY satisfying general aviation noise flying past her house (I've always wanted to live in a fly-in community, and here Karen ends up at a fl-in university!)
I plan a very exciting day of relaxing here in the middle of nowhere, and eating the huge block of cheddar cheese Karen has in her fridge, and crashing the flight simulator a few times.
Update 12:45 p.m.: The sun is out, yippeee dippeee do dah! Clear blue skies are awesome happy days are here again..
Goodbye, Muggles!
Goodbye boring Muggles, I am heading to England tonight. The itinerary: see Harry Potter, see Cranfield, see Cantebury Cathedral, see a musical. And of course: see Karen and see Irwin. I think maybe I will get a lightning bolt tatoo to wear on my forehead all weekend.
Working in the coal mine
I've actually had an unbelievable amount of work to do the last few days, culminating in a presentation today. But, as usual, my boss is no where to be found and no one has looked at any of the graphs I plan on presenting today. Do they make sense? I don't know. Is my topic boring? Well, yes, kind of. Even for acoustics people, the acoustics of a completely empty tube is not exactly thrilling stuff.
Maybe I'll write more later, I'm not feeling inspired anymore. .
So, here are two pictures that amused me yesterday for your entertainment.
Nothing happening here at all
I've been in a chatty phone mood, so I talked to the family (dad, Nick, mom) in the last couple of days on the phone, which was nice, but they were all distracted.
I have lots of work because I have to do a presentation at our group meeting tomorrow. A presentation on what, you ask? I don't know, but I better start thinking about it :)
Jen O'Meara is applying to work here. Yeah! It is awesome that we will actually have a GT aerospace precense integrating all these Calagary, Canada mechanical-type people. Maybe I will have to plan a trip to come visit her here and the rest of my gang..
Furniture overload
I am facing a furniture overload for my new apartment in Houston (too much is better than two little, though, and beggars can't be choosy). The inventory of what I definitely have:
- bed from my mother's house
- kitchen table (no chairs) from Aunt Mary
- bed frame from Aunt Mary
- pots, pans, decor for my dorm room
This was a good start, I thought. After all, its the basic staples of life, and the rest I can get as I get money. I mean, I'm only looking at 800 sqft one-bedroom places, mostly because that's all I can afford if I want something that is waterfront.
So, my Aunt Diane has been working over time and presented me with the following possibilities:
- coffee table, end table, sofa table from Aunt Shannon
- bed set from Aunt Shannon (though I can't have it until August... does someone want to explain to me how I am supposed to get it from Cleveland to Houston in August?)
- sofa from Aunt Joy (damnit! I was hoping for a sofa from Aunt Diane, she has the most comfortable one I've ever sat on!)
- lights from Aunt Shannon
- kitchen table with chairs from Aunt Joy.
- bunk beds from Aunt Diane (someone please explain to me what I need bunk beds for?)
So, to summarize, I would now have TWO kitchen tables, two sofas, two bed frames, and a set of unneeded bunk beds. Additionally, this furniture is spread out between Boca Raton, FL, Cleveland/Erie, PA, and Philadelphia, PA! I am going to have a busy vacation collecting it all. Good thing I claimed dibs on the IMAC van for the duration of the vacation. Or, perhaps, I should claim dibs on the IMAC cube-truck!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
So, I walked out of the Marien Heim and it was raining. It was really that terrible half snow-half rain, zero degree yucky rain. But as we headed toward Dattwil on the bus (Dattwil is where I work, about 10 minutes from Baden), I noticed peoples cars were snow covered.
Yeah! It is snowing in Dattwil! There's a nice coating on everything. Snow is so nice compared to yucky rain (sorry Sarah and Karen!).
Nick beat me again
I was so proud of myself for being the first Kohart to innagurate this year's ski season by going on Sunday, November 11. Then I found out my brother went on his first ski trip on Saturday, November 10. He beat me again! Cry.
Watching t.v. is a wonderful thing
So, by now, everyone has heard about the plane crash in NY. A "catastrophic engine failure." Its crazy that happened so close to the WTC attacks. Its crazy that it happened two months and one day after. Its crazy that it happened in NY at the same time of day as the WTC attacks. Its crazy that they crashed into a populated area, Queens, the most Jewish part of NY, at that. Its crazy that it was American Airlines, already hit once this year.
Before, I would not even question the cause of an accident like this. I would immediately think: takeoff is such a dangerous part of flight, planes crash. But my first thought was that "they got through all the increased security." Before I would assume its a mechanical failure unless there is other evidence. Now, I assumed it was a terrorist attack until the news reported other evidence. Its amazing how our thinking changes.
Anyway the point of this story is that Wei Wei, the new girl at the Marien Heim, actually has a TV in her room and I watched CNN last night. ENGLISH TV!!! Its been a long time. It was nice, just to feel the remote in my hand, hear words I understand, completely turn my mind off... ok. TV is a good thing, I admit it.
The newest queen of England
That's me. I'm leaving for London on Thursday night. I am SO excited. I am most excited about seeing Irwin and Karen! I am excited about seeing Cranfield. I am excited about seeing Harry Potter. I am excited about seeing Cantebury Cathedral (the last major tourist spot in southern part of the island that I am interested in). I am excited about seeing signs written in English and understanding the words of random people on the streets. I am excited about staying in an actual hotel instead of a youth hostel.
My going-away party?
So I am leaving in about exactly a month. But two other of my office-mates (Tina and Amol) are leaving at the end of November. Anyway, over the weekend, we through ourselves a going-away party. Since parties are forbidden at the Marien Heim after our last party there, we held it at Grant's apartment(another praktikant from our office). He warned us about one of his obnoxious neighbors (who has complained about him talking on the phone while on the patio because he can "hear" the noise, he has complained about Grant having a dinner party with 3 people over because they were playing the radio above a muted-whisper).
Let me give you this prelude: Our parties are fun, but they are not loud, chaotic, destructive parties. Meaning a bunch of people get together, we talk, we eat, we have some drinks. That's about the extent of it - not to diminish the parties, which are great fun (especially gvien the drunkeness quotient of some of the students). Nothing scary, dangerous, or otherwise, well, anything.
Well, this party was broken up by the arrival of the police. I think when Dan hushed the party at about 11 p.m. to deliver toasts to the three of us and at the end of the toast announced "Now, everyone clap really loud and stomp on the floor to piss off the neighbor below us." That probably didn't go over well, and the police arrived 30 minutes later.
I got this e-mail (in jest) this morning:
Local rumours say that the community of Baden and a local company are about to set up a new kind of special force: The APP (Alstom-Party-Police). This task-force will have it's headquarter close to Webermühle and whenever residents complain about a saturday-night-party they will come along and beat all the noisy prakticants with a GT26-LPT-Blade 2 (for those who are not in gasturbines: It hurts !). Afterwards they will make shure that these kids get some additional work at their departments next week .
The inaguration of the ski season
So, with all the sleet, rain, and sometimes snow in Baden (at about 500 ft above sea level), I had to be thinking that it was snowing in the mountains. I am getting enthusiastic about skiing.
Anyway, at the party, one of my snowboarding friends (yuck! snowboarding!) said that a local resort got 30 cm (12 in) of fresh snow over the week and was open. So, we went yesterday on a day trip! My first time skiing on NOVEMBER 11!!!
As for my observations about skiing in Switzerland, stay tuned later for more details on:
1. The ski lift ride from hell.
So, we thought it would only take 3 hours to get to the resort. And, in fact, it did, 2 hours aboard the train and 1 hour on a bus. But then, we got to the ski lift. A la Jay's Peak in Vermont, they use these HUGE gondolas, they pack fifty people into one car and send them up. This of course, creates huge lines, so we waited in line for an hour. Seeing as how there was no snow at the base, I figured we would have to go up to the top to get to the open ski area. This is an understatement. We spent 20 minutes on this gondola. Switched to another gondola, spent 20 minutes on that. Then spent another 20 minutes on the more traditional 6 person gondola. Basically, we crossed this huge expanse of mountain. The ride was beautiful, but REALLY long. So when we got off, we were finally at the "operating" part of the ski runs. And there was only a T-bar to get you up to the top.
Now, some of you might not know what a T-bar is. Typically, in America, we only use them on the really easy "bunny" slopes. For a skier, its very nice, you just stand there, lean back, and the t-bar pushes you up on your skis, basically skiing up hill. Its a little more difficult for my snowboarding friends, making it hilarious as they fell off the bar halfway up the mountains numerous times.
2. There are too many snowboarders in Switzerland
When we got off the train and were waiting for the bus, I noticed something. I was surrounded. I was the ONLY person with skis in a sea of snowboarders!!! It was very very strange. The mountain was about the same, probably 10 snowboarders to every one skier. I just laughed and laughed about the t-bar problem for them.
3. What the HELL is it with Microsoft and why do all the men I meet go there?
I met this totally awesome, only semi-cute, guy sharing a t-bar. He's an American CS/CompE from RPI (good school in NY). He's in Zurich studying for the year at the technical university. We totally hit it off: as it turns out there were a suprising number of coincidences: he had lived in Houston for a couple years right where I am going to be living (League City), he knew people from the GT flying club that I also know well, he skis at the same places in Vermont that I always ski at... he worked at Microsoft last summer (where Irwin and George worked). Anyway, after he graduates in May, back he goes to Microsoft. Damn Microsoft for taking all the eligable bachelors and shipping them off to the nerdy world of computers, high turnover rates, work-a-holics, slacking and more money than they deserve. Anyway, we exchanged email addresses, so maybe I will hear from him again.
As for love-life things, its actually looking good here. I haven't met anyone worth flirting with for a long time (except for a couple cute Scottish guys who were passing through during an Alstom training course). Anyway, at the party, I met an Aerospace Ph.D. student from Scotland (yes, Karen, he actually been to Cranfield, yeah!) who I also hit it off with. And another Swiss guy from Zurich who I ended up skiing with for a while. Pity I have to meet all these eligible ones when I shipping back to the U.S. in a short month from now.
4. Skiing above the tree line rocks.
The best thing about this ski experience was that I was ABOVE the tree line. Skiing at 3000 m (9000 ft) means just pure, open space. Its amazingly free to just coast down the mountain, not worrying about turning or trails or anything. Just open space. Lovely!
5. Scary helicopter antics.
I did see one strange thing, a medical helicopter landing on the afore mentioned wide open space (I didn't see where the injury occured). The top of the run was clouded in an EXTREMELY thick cloud/fog. Anyway, the helicopter took off and flew into the fog. Clouds, mountains and aircraft are an extremely lethal combination. Miraculously, the helicopter successfully emerged from the cloud, flying right along the lift line, at about 10 feet above the ground. That pilot was either extremely talented or extremely foolhardy, I can't decide which.
And the reward at the end of the tunnel of my babble: pictures (from Grant's party on Saturday)!
Here are the Canadian boys I traveled with (remember "crass Canadians") - they are awesome and great fun. Starting from the left is Trevor (the future airline pilot), then a guy I don't know (he's visiting), then Brent (the theatrical guy from B.C.), then Grant (the host of the party and my office mate).
Another group of boys, Jeff (Canadian) on the left and Nikki (Swedish) on the right went skiing/snowboarding with me this weekend. Glenn in the middle is at most of our events, but I don't know him that well.
One of the au pairs that came to the party and I snuck up behind Trevor (who hates being tickled) to tickle him. Its so much fun to torture Trevor who tortures me so much when we travel together!
Time for another summary
Since I have returned from Morocco there has been:
Days of sunshine: 0
Minutes of daylight I have not-during-working-hours: 10 (and only because I left early one day for just that purpose)
Leaves on trees: 50%
First day of snow: TODAY
Its snowing! Its not supposed to snow. At least not in Baden. And definitely not until Christmas time. Certainly not before all the leaves have fallen off the trees! And we're not talking a little flurry. We're talking enough huge junks that turned my hair white between the bus stop and the office. Its very pretty and a nice change from the sleet we've been having all week. Reading Karen's journal, I guess I can expect the same from England.
"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."--Graham Greene
We were talking about the "news bubble" in the kitchen at the Marein Heim (henceforth known as "the amateur political philosophy corner"). The Swiss lady we live with was telling us that editorialy in the newspapers here have been increasingly negative on the war in Afghanistan. Specifically, she said that there was a growing belief that America was just looking for an excuse to regain large deposits of oil there. And she also said that there was evidence coming out here that our intelligence agencies knew about the attack on the World Trade centers but let it happen so we would have that excuse. She went on. Conspiracy theories were all I could think about, almost like an accusation.
That is a little far out. I told her, in my best defense of America (as I usually am saying that America is too agressive). I asked her, what else would you do if 5,000 people and billions of dollars were lost in SWITZERLAND by a coordinated violent action obviously sponsored by the Taliban? Just not do anything? And, I said that it is extremely likely the intelligence agencies had evidence pointing to the attack, but either not enough to predict it, or because of some massive foul up, they didn't put it together in time to predict it. It was unthinkable in my mind that some official would've known about it and not done something to evacuate the building.
But I was appalled to think that the Swiss/German press, and perhaps their people, actually think something like that could happen! Talk about negative opinions of America.
Anyway, then, in response to my rhetorical question about what would Switzerland do?, my Swiss friend was firmly convinced that Switzerland would never get in this situation to begin with. (Remember, Switzerland is the country where every man keep a semi-automatic rifle in their house so they can mobilize their standing army in under two hours). She said "violence begets violence" and then pointed out that the U.S. government was helping to prop up the Taliban regime when Russia pulled out. She also pointed out that now we are dealing with the Pakistanis, promising them all sorts of favors that we know they will use in a war against India. And said we did the same thing with Iraq. Now, this perspective I could agree with.
But again, I come to the thought, what else could we do to prevent something like this from happening again and punish those who did it the first time?
From the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:
(ATHENS, GEORGIA) - The Georgia Bulldogs football practice was delayed this past Monday morning for nearly two hours at the team's practice facility. One of the players, while on his way to the locker room happened to look down and notice a suspicious looking, unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Mark Richt immediately suspended practice while the FBI was called in to investigate.
After a complete field analysis, the FBI determined that the white substance unknown to the players was the goal line. Practice was resumed when FBI Special Agents decided that, while the powder might cause respiratory distress if inhaled, it was highly unlikely that the team would encounter the substance again.
Chinese food in Switzerland
I had real Chinese food last night. Not the take-out store variety last night. But food cooked by our newest Marien Heim resident, Wei Wei. (Wei Wei is a full-time engineer from Alstom, and she normally does nuclear power plant work in China but has been transferred here for some project... Yes, I am associating with a Chinese nuclear engineer, I wonder if the CIA will be in to question me now?).
Anyway, the food was delicious, one potatoe dish and two egg plant dishes. Everything was wonderfully spicy. One of the dishes had a little bit of pork in it, which I politely ate, making my first departure from being a veggie in about 2 months. I definitely think I could reproduce the meal (eggplant is something I rarely cook with, I think I will add it to my list of food to cook with more regularly).
After dinner the six of us just gossiped and shared stories. It was a very funny cultural exchange (our group contained a girl from Equador, China, Spain, Switzerland, America, a boy we snuck into the nunnery who grew up in Indonesia, and Tina who grew up in India but is very American) we talked about holiday rituals and third world conditions and the differences between city and country people in China. I am happy to find out that Santa Claus is fairly nice in America to bad little children, only bringing them a lump of coal. Apparently in other countries, he throws the bad kids in his sack and takes them away (which is not as bad as Iceland, where Santa Claus's mother is an evil troll who EATS bad little boys and girls).
The news bubble
I was also very interested to here about China. I just read a fictional account of the Cultural Revolution (Being Madame Mao was very good, I HIGHLY recommend it). Wei Wei was born the year it ended, and she casually talked about life in her youth compared to the changes that have happened in the last five years. Its very interesting conversation...
I have learned since coming here that in America, we live in a news bubble. Our press is so nationalist that we don't need censorship, because most of the media put such a huge bias into reporting, that we never know what's really happening anyway. I see this by just reading CNN and the NYTimes and then struggling through La Monde (in French) and the London Times. Not to mention what other people tell me about their own lives in all these countries is so different from what you read on the news. I could cite example after example of things that are given low priority in the American press or aren't reported at all that are of HUGE significance. The funny thing is that everyone, including the Canadians, realize that America exists in this "news bubble," but I think as a whole, America is completely unaware of the self-censorship the media has been practicing.
My playright cousin.
Caroline, my awesome cousin (she's about 10 years old), wrote a very funny play that was performed at her school. Apparently, it was selected as a winner of a Philadelphia-wide contest and will be preformed at Temple University (that's a big Uni in Philadelphia, a bunch of Bill Cosby's kids went there giving it some national recognition). Well, I can't do this story justice, so here's the text of my Aunt Mary's email about it:
Also, did I tell you Caroline's play won a city wide playwriting contest? It's being performed at Temple om 12/6 and 12/7. For the last month, the playwriting contest people have sent her a "dramaturg" to work with and together they have worked on the script, added a new act, etc. I'll send you the final version -- it's even funnier now.
Anyway, she went to watch the auditions for her play last friday. The actors are all Temple theatre students. They were told to come out and do monologues and some came out and did monologues from The Vagina Monologues, which is a broadway play about, you guessed it, vaginas. Caroline was stunned and the poor teacher that took her down there to see the auditions was completely bummed out and afraid she would get in trouble with Caroline's parents, etc. The whole thing was pretty funny.
Going back to Houston
I finally have a room to stay at in Houston! Whoo hoo! It only took asking about the first 15 people (after eliminating those who live in the boonies and those who have cats) on the housing list. Now, I have a place to stay until I find my perfect apartment :).
I got an e-mail from my division's boss at JSC today (we correspond once a month, just to let him know that I am still alive). He wrote this:
As you know, our NASA administrator and the Associate Administrator for Space Flight have resigned. We have an acting JSC center director and an acting Directorate chief. Don't be alarmed though, all is running just fine and we have plenty of technical work to do.
I was actually aware of all this as individual news items. It basically means there is no permanent management above him until you get to Vice President Cheney. But I think its hilarious to hear all the reshuffling put together in one brief thought like that.
I think I've been getting too much sleep.
In the last few nights, I've had really strange dreams that have included (but not limited to): a starving kitten, me becoming a novice nun, me being able to fly by flapping my arms, a conversation with friends who didn't understand why I would ever want to leave America, a very weird experience in a Turkish-style Moroccan public bath, a re-enactment of a scene from Apollo 13....
The darkness, its killing me...
So, I am the last to jump on the AE female mafia bandwagon to complain about the dark and cold. I come into work while the sun is coming up, and I leave after its gotten pitch dark. Its oh, so, very depressing. And the daylight dwindles a little more every day. This was a big leap for me when I came back from Morocco, because daylight savings time happened while I was gone, so it caught me off guard. I really miss being able to walk home from work in the afternoon, it was kind of like a sanity check for me.
And then there is the cold. As usual, I am being assured this weather "isn't normal." I don't think we have had "normal" weather since I've arrived. Anyway, I dug out all my winter accessories (hats, gloves, scarves, etc.) from my ski bag over the weekend and I'm making good use of them. Its supposed to snow on Thursday and Friday! They promised me that Baden it would only snow 1 or 2 times in a year. Its a little early in the season for only "1 or 2 times", don't you think?
Tourists are so funny
So, Tina met this random girl who has a degree in sociology from Berekley, spent a year working for a temp agency (obviously her degree wasn't very useful) and is now traveling the world. They met in Venice. And then, this random girl showed up at the Marein Heim for a visit. She was cool, very typical backpacker (i.e. annoyingly ready to regail you with stories of all the "deep" insights she's gained by visiting the major tourist attractions of the world, since you can learn so much about the way different people live from the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Goodbye, Switzerland, adieu, adieu to you and you and you
So, no one volunteered to come visit me the week after I finish work, so, today... (drum roll please).... I am buying my ticket home. My last day of work is Dec 14 (a Friday) and I will leave for American on Dec 17 (Monday). Hopefully Dec 15 and 16 will be spent somewhere high and snowy on board my skis.
I will fly directly to Philadelphia, where I will transfer my car title, info, etc. into my name. Then (assuming I have car insurance at that point), I will drive to south Florida, stopping to mooch in D.C. (and paint my Aunt Diane's kitchen walls a very ugly canary yellow). I will return to Philadelphia on or around New Years (hopefully stopping to enjoy a New Years party somewhere... Irwin?), supervise the moving of my car and my household possessions, and then fly down to Houston to start my new life.
That's the plan as it is now. Let's see how it actually turns out.
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is how to love and be loved in return.
I went to see Moulin Rouge yesterday. Ok, this is the second time I saw it. The first time was with Jen, in Houston, in June. I love the 6 month lag between movie releases there and here. I think I am probably one of the few people to actually enjoy that movie movie for being a funny, theatrical, love story. Makes me want to fall in love... with Ewan McGregor. He's British, right, Karen, can you arrange something for me?
I actually saw the movie with some of my Australian friends and they were telling me all sorts of trivia about the filmmakers, who, I guess, are also Australian. They loved the movie. Maybe it did bad in America, but I think the Aussies must've really propped it up.
Another day, another busy day
I just found out my side tubes will be put in the combustion lab at the end of this week! With actual flames! I didn't think I would get my lab time before my departure in 6 weeks from now (combustion lab time is at a premium around here). So, I thought, I wasn't going to be doing anything for a long time. Now I am frantically trying to prepare. I also found out, I don't really have to write a detailed exit paper, because I already have a degree, and therefore don't have any thesis work, or co-op reports, to bring back to school. This frees up more of my time to actually be productive. Though, writing a paper would've been a good thing, it would be hard to do, given that my job has changed so drastically on almost a monthly basis. And I am definitely not too keen on the idea of writing a 100 page technical paper at all.
DID I JUST SAY "KEEN"??? Oh, my gosh. Get me away from these Brits and Aussies before I start totally getting a funny accent!
Should I be looking for a two bedroom apartment?
Sarah told me today she's considering coming back to NASA JSC to work. (FYI: That's where I will be working starting January and Sarah is my roommate from GT). I actually would be working in the same little group with her (while she was co-oping there this summer, she was in MY desk, that's how close we would be). I think its cool, in a strange, quasi-unsettling way (I am sure that Sarah felt nearly this same way when she heard that I accepted a full time position in what had been "her" group the previous year). Its awesome to know someone I am close to and work with well will be there. On the other hand, its hard to make new starts when someone you know is there. But, I am definitely leaning toward the "cool" side. It will be nice to have a close friend I know in Houston. Of course, Sarah is still trying to figure out her life (I can empathize!), so nothing is, I think, even 50% certain.
The quest for silence fails
I came to work today, seeking quiet. I thought, perhaps I shall write a little for my long-neglected anthology of travel narratives. I am beginning to think actually submitting any of these for publication is a pipe dream, because I have started lots of stories, but no luck finishing them. Its no the same without a deadline.
Plus, after a week or so of slacking off at work, I found out my side tubes have finally gotten lab time priority. This is a good thing, because I will actually be able to test them with a flame (whoo, hoo, fire fire!) before the end of my internship. But now, I actually have to accomplish some work to prepare for these tests.
So, with that said, I actually have a lot to do. Then a certain talkative co-worker shows up. Isn't that always the irony? When I am bored, there is no company to be had, and when I am busy, I am surrounded by distractions.
Zap zap zap, goes the microwave
No one has microwaves here, which makes cooking sometimes a difficult proposition. I had been working under the assumption that microwaves never integrated themselves into Swiss (or European) culture the way they have in America. I learned yesterday that's not the case. As recently as 5 years ago, every Swiss kitchen had a microwave. Then, a study came out showing a harmful amount of radiation leaks from microwaves. Now, no Swiss kitchen has them. Apparently, microwaves are a dime a dozen in second-hand shops. Maybe I should go buy one.
""I'm not a lumberjack or a fur trader. I don't live in an igloo, eat blubber or own a dogsled.
"I don't know Jimmy, Suzie or Sally from Canada, although I'm certain they're very nice.
"I have a prime minister, not a president.
"I speak English and French, not American.
"And I pronounce it 'about,' not 'a-boot.'
"I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.
"I believe in peacekeeping, not policing; diversity, not assimilation.
"And that the beaver is a proud and noble animal.
"A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch.
"And it's pronounced zed. OK? Not zee. Zed.
"Canada is the second-largest land mass, the first nation of hockey and the best part of North America.
"My name is Joe, and I am Canadian."
The Candians are obsessed with this commercial. I think its funny that they derive their national identity from a BEER commercial. In other cultural phenomenon, Karen, have any of the English or Australians you know explained the Neighbours TV show to you? That’s another national obsession.
Halloween (a few days late)
So, lot’s of people have been asking about Halloween here lately. It is so sad I missed it. I even left my FESTIVE (not tacky) skeleton earings in a box back home. This is the first year I didn’t wear them, how sad!
Anyway, some of the international students celebrate Halloween (mainly in the form of costume parties) in their home countries to some degree or another. In Switzerland, Halloween decorations and ads have only begun to appear in the last couple of years. So, I face a constant battery of questions. Most people understand the constume thing – but I have definitely told a lot of stories about Haunted Houses, Hay Rides, and Pumpkin Patches. I get the feeling that whenever any of these people visit America, now, they will want to go to a Haunted House.
After answering all these questions, I learned that Switzerland, in fact, does have a Halloween-like holiday. The day before Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday), all the kids dress up and go find a farmer and ask for cow bells. The farmer gives them the cow bells (small ones for little kids, big ones for bigger kinds). And then, they go door to door ringing the bell and someone comes and gives them a treat (usually nuts or gingerbread men or something like that).
Cow bells instead of „trick or treat“! How Swiss!
The great American-Swiss-Texan-Moroccan-Canadian novel
Sarah pointed out a web site about a month long marathon novel-writing. Specifically, people are going to try to write a 50,000 word novel starting Nov 1 and ending Nov 30 (that’s about 2,000 words per day). I was really tempted to sign up and do it. Unfortunately, they have closed out signups. Sarah is making me antzy to quit my career and travel the world (oh, no, wait, isn’t that what I am already doing?).
Its hard maintaining momentum lately. But I am excited about going back to NASA – the thing that makes me feel most limited is the pay check (actually, any pay check less than about 20 million USD a month would probably make me feel limited) and the lack of vacation time (I am really beginning to see the SANITY the European system of 6 weeks of vacation per year PLUS Easter and the week between Christmas and New Year, so you can have both vacation time and time with your extended family over the holidays).
Otherwise, I am really excited about my job. At first I thought I would regret not going to grad school full time, and in some ways, I do get envious of Sarah or Karen. I mean a university is really exciting place. But I don’t think I could take the insanity of being a full-time student. And I am also beginning to see a lot more options for changing fields (public policy, perhaps?) or studying at an international university (my latest obsession is a scramjet program at University of Queensland in Australia) than I would’ve if I got stuck in a traditional aerospace program at a Georgia-Tech-like university.
Nationwide ManHunt
I am sure you have heard me mention before, crime is basically non-existant in Switzerland. The police are, for the most part, so extremely bored that they actually enforce library fines and dig through people's trash (that's a story for another time). Anyway, last week (while I was gone), two men tried to rob a post office (to give them some credit, a lot of post offices here also provide banking services). They got scared and fled, with no money, causing no damage. Basically, nothing. Anyway, now there is a nation-wide manhunt underway for them. They have mobilized the police, set up road blocks, they are using HELICOPTERS. Its bigger than tracing some serial murderers in America. Its so funny.
Morocco was great. I toured Marakesh, saw 13th century kasbahs, took a moonlit camel trek and camped out in the Sahara, and saw a gorgeous Mosque in Casablanca. I got henna-tatooed by accident (don't worry it will go away in about a month).
They are changing E.T.
I want to go to Australia.
Those are the three topics for my journal entry when I get around to writing it, right after I sort through the work backlog here (after all, that's what they pay me for).
13:30 p.m.
Executive Summary
Since I am learning the fine art of summing things up for people who only care minimally, this is my executive summary of my 7 day trip to Morocco.
I headed strait to Marrakesh from Casablanca, where I spent day 1 wandering the souqs (basically a combo flea market and Middle Eastern bizarre). Day 2 was spent at the most beautiful waterfall I have ever been to, the Cascades, about 3 hours from Marrakesh. Then I departed on a 3 day guided tour (in a minivan of 6 people). The first day was spent touring 13th century Jewish, Berber, and Arab kasbahs. The second day was spent in the desert, culminating in a beautiful sunset camel trek, a camp out in the desert. And the last day was a frantic drive all the way back to Marrakesh. The next day, we headed to Casablanca, a very metropolitan coastal city. There we wandered, and then went to the only Mosque where non-Muslims are allowed to tour, a brand new, 800 million dollar monument to Islam, that could fit both Notre Dame and St Peter’s Bascillica inside of it.
Now, the long, erudite observations
1. Camels are fowl creatures.
I insisted on going on a Sahara camel trek. My two friends from Australia protested. They said in Australia, someone decided to import camels because they survive well in the Outback, but eventually everyone just released their’s into the wild, because they weren’t worth the effort compared to horses or donkeys. I would have to agree. The spit, fart, make this howling noises reminsent of dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park movies, and, most disagreeably, they have a huge hump where you are supposed to sit.
With that said, the camel ride was one of the highlights of the trip. There is still the crazy romantic notion of being in a camel caravan surrounded by dunes that are hundreds of feet high. We went out at sunset, and the stars were incredible. We came back at sunrise, and the sand changed ever possible shade of yellow and red. It was a true African experience!
2. Bargaining is not an easy thing.
I thought I was an assertive person BEFORE I went to Morocco. Its unbelievable the amount of hubbub that is typical of the merchants in the souqs in Marrakesh. We would hear everything from "Pas cher!" (not expensive) to "Liquidation sale!" being shouted at us. If you stopped to look, you would be accosted. Literally they would try to dress you with their clothes so you would HAVE to buy things. This is how I got henna-ed by accident. I stopped to look at pictures of henna designs, and next thing I new this woman was covering my skin in dye "just a sample, just a sample. I kept protesting "I don’t have any money, I can’t pay, I don’t have any money." Somehow she ended up with 50 Dh (about 5 USD) from me as a result of this.
Toward the end of the trip, I got much better at the whole bargaining thing. I bought this awesome pottery bowl (perfect for serving big salads) for 90 Dh (9 USD). The original asking price was 300 Dh. I even got to the point where I could somehow convince shopkeepers to browse without accosting me with things to purchase (they did nickname me „just looking“ several times though).
With that said, it is REALLY hard to force yourself to bargain, because everything is so very cheap. It almost becomes a matter of principal. When a 50% reduction in price is only a few franks, it almost doesn’t seem worth the effort—at the beginning of the trip. At the end of the trip, we were complaining about paying 8 Dh instead of 5 Dh for the famous mint tea (which we actually had for 1 Dh at several places).. You have to understand, 3 Dh is the difference of about a quarter.
The thing we learned, though, was EVERYTHING was negotiable. Cab fares, hotel rooms, dinner, drinks, especially souvenirs. And because the prices were so good, I could actually travel like a Cutri – i.e. I could afford to take cabs, hire cars, hire guides, eat nice dinners out, etc. It was a refreshing change. It seemed no matter what I did, I would not break my budget (which was lower than my average Switzerland traveling budget).
3. Lovely Desolation
After one day in the markets, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Thankfully I got out of the city fast. We’re talking long stretches of winding, empty roads. The scenery was brown and empty. But in a strange way, it was beautiful. I don’t quite know how to describe it. But when we arrived in Erfoud, at the edge of the desert, we were following something that could only be called a road when compared to the road into our cottage in Canada. Then suddenly, it ended.
Next thing I know, our beat up Hundyai minivan is careening over the dry salt lake beds. Off in the distance, we could see landrovers, with their trail of dust. Basically, there was no road that connected Erfoud with the little town (that basically consisted of a few hostels and a few residences) that was on the edge of the desert. It was crazy, we basically picked our own road (we only had to push the car out of the sand twice). Later we confirmed on a map that towns were only connected by dotted lines that pretty much signified "make your own road."
Another successful adventure
Traveling in Morocco was very different from Europe. It isn’t exactly part of the developing world, but things were much more of a challenge. Many of the people, especially the women, are illiteratae. Showers are not common, especially warm ones. The cars are in miserable shape. And in the cities there is widespread poverty (though once we got outside of the city, especially south of Marrakesh, the towns looked amazingly prosperous, more prosperous than places in Europe I have been too). The worst for me was the complete lack of sit-down toilets (except at some Western tourist destinations) and lack of toilet paper (thank heavens we brought tissues). The language barrier was much easier for me to overcome though. Most Moroccans speak very basic French. Which is good, because I speak very basic French too. I can’t communicate with someone who actually speaks decent French. But somehow I was getting by exchanging broken French with the Moroccans suprisingly well – I mean, meaningful, useful conversations! Without my French, we would have missed trains, paid too much for souvenirs, not known directions, and not met as many Moroccans. It was actually very useful – the first time my French has ever been truly absolutely needed in my life. I’ll be a francophne yet…
It was nice to do a trip that made traveling a little more challenging than I am used to. But now, I am ready to take a cruise or sit on the beach or something.
