Meine Damen und Herren

It's been almost two weeks since I got to Germany. Here's what's happened.

Last Thursday I went to Halle to help out at our field site there. It was pretty exciting to go to east Germany although I hadn't really seen west Germany that much. Halle looked a lot like a mini-Prague, with older paint. While Halle is the birthplace of Handel and the location of the continent's only Beatle museum, there are few tourists and no one spoke English. I didn't speak in English for the two days I was there. I'll post some pictures when I finally get my computer hooked up to the internet.

Living at the MPIZed has been interesting. It's like a resort: there's a pool, tennis courts, a patio next to a pond, etc. I even have people hoover my room and give me clean sheets and towels. However everyone at the resort is a plant biologist. Even though we're in Germany, all the scientists and most of the staff speak in English. Unfortunately, the copiers are all in German, which makes life a bit difficult. I spend much of my time out in the field site, measuring and counting leaves or putting dead Arabidopsis in paper bags. Despite my religious devotion to hats and sunscreen, I'm getting a wicked farmer's tan. Tomorrow I will start my own project. The first step will be going through the 6000 or so plant-containing paper bags sent here from Valencia to pick out the ones whose seeds I want. Should be a party.

The city of Köln itself seems really nice. Today I went to the Ludwig Museum, which is devoted to modern and contemporary art. Some was nice and much was very strange. Then I walked along the Rhine a bit, through a flea market and then a park. It's funny, it feels really normal to be here. I say 'Tschüss' to the guards when I leave the MPIZed, get on the U-Bahn, wander around the streets of Köln, etc. Maybe my normal-meter's been reset with all the travel. I wonder if it will feel really strange to get back to the US, or whether it will be fine?

moving on

Hey, so Im in Germany. The z is where the y should be and who knows where the apostrophe is. However I can make lots of ööös and äääs. Even the blogger menus have morphed into German. This should be fun.

The Max Planck (hereafter referred to as the MPIZ, said M P I Zed) is a white walled well-gardened oasis in the middle of a bunch of wheatfields. Of course, since its Europe, theres a subwaz (u-bahn) not too far away. My room is very pristine with complicated windows and the tiniest fridge I have ever seen. Once I get a login to the wireless up there, Ill post some photos (and regain the skills to apostrophe)

All i really have done since I got here is unpack and go grocery shopping with a coworker, also new to Germanz. The supermarket has the most complicated shopping cart system I have ever encountered. First, to get a cart, you have to stick a coin in the handle and yank hard to detatch your cart from all the others. But, if you dont do this quite right, these big plastic appendages on the wheels will lock up and you have to scout out an employee to unlock them with a big black plastic key. All this is complicated by the fact that the only way to enter the actual store is through a one-way shopping cart turnstile. So when you get stuck with the cart with locked wheels on the wrong side of the turnstile... it gets sticky. And thats before we got to the shoppingcart escalator. Luckily we made it out of the store without looking like complete nuts.

Another country means another hunt for tofu. I think vegetarianism and world-travel are becoming less and less compatible. I was able to ask for tofu in german though and I discovered that while the stock-guy didnät know if they carried tofu, if they did, it would be next to the quark.

Tschüss!

A conversation

Setting: Oxford Street, London. A busy Sunday afternoon.

Characters:
Me - A tired, sweaty looking tourist with backpack
Promoter - well-dressed, perky looking, english 20-something woman trying to promote a london salon.

Scene:

Promoter (perkily): Hi, can I ask you where you usually get your hair cut?
Me: Umm...
Pause
Me: Some salon in Rhode Island?
Promoter: Oh, really?
Me: But the last time was in Edinburgh.
Promoter: Oh... how long will you be in London?
Me: Only until tonight.
Promoter (losing hope): Where are you going next?
Me: Um, Norwich? And then Germany in a week.
Promoter: Um, ok then (backs away looking confused).

more sicily photos