[Suggested music for reading this blog - Kevin Rudolph's "Let it Rock"]
The nesting process has begun. I wouldn't say my apartment is ready to live in yet, given the absence of essentials like a kitchen, a bed, and lights. But it is definitely at the status of a camp site with bathroom facilities -- except no fires are allowed (more on fire in a later blog). So I consider it livable. And I really just want to move into my neighborhood.
One of the events that was pivotal to my ability to move in was the arrival of my air shipment, which was delivered on Friday morning. One of the air shipment boxes contained my camping kit -- air mattress, pillow, sheets, blanket, towels and screwdrivers to help with set-up of whatever I might buy. Imagine my surprise and something not quite at the level of delight when I opened the box marked "AIR BED PARTS" on the outside. Which I assumed meant air mattress and related stuff. Um, not so much. It was literally parts for my bed which was not going by air but by sea. Which left me without the pivot of the pivotal event. I was not about to be deterred from moving into my place, though. So I headed out to Mann Mobilia that night to buy an air mattress. Apparently it's not a common item here. They didn't really understand what I was asking for and starting bringing hypoallergenic mattress covers, feather beds, and other interesting items. I also tried to find sporting goods/camping areas of stores with equally fruitless results. So I did what anyone looking for disposable furniture on the cheap would do. I went to IKEA.
Now, IKEA didn't have air mattresses either, but they did have an inexpensive mattress that is about four inches thick and was rolled up (yes, rolled) into a bag that looked like a double-wide sleeping bag. I was touching the one in the store and it seemed like it was something more than just foam and should do the trick. And then I attempted to buy a pillow, blanket, and sheets for said mattress. Pillow was fine -- it also came tightly rolled up in a bag and is a rather oblong shape. Sheets and blanket were a bit trickier because I had forgotten that blankets as I know them aren't really used here -- it's more of an issue of duvets in various thicknesses (all of which are too hot for my liking, but they are soooo comfy). So I got an inexpensive one that didn't seem too thick. Sheets are also a bit different. You have a bottom sheet and then a duvet cover but the duvet cover essentially IS your top sheet. So I got what appeared to be a sheet set which I hoped would have everything. Alas, duvet cover is sold separately. But at least I have a place to sleep now!
I did not, however, have a place to sit in my place (unless you count the toilets, bathtub surround, or the window ledges). So I checked out IKEA's finest (and cheapest) and got some sort of weird aluminum frame with fabric (Priser blue, of course) stretched taut over the frame that was kind of a rocker. Um, I still don't really have a place to sit because the last part does not fit. It's like an inch too wide and I have tried everything possible to force it in. Frustrating. So on my Saturday night trip to IKEA I bought a squarish ottoman that I think might work well as temporary seating while I'm staring at the other unfinished chair and swearing at IKEA.
Perhaps the most exciting purchase was that of a washer and dryer. I was at Media Markt (which I think I have mentioend before) which has the largest selection of kitchen appliances I have seen so far. I was wandering around the washers and dryers when a salesperson walked up to me. She was very German looking -- probably in her 50s, well dressed, and I think handsome would be an appropriate word to describe her; the very type of Germans I hope to one day hang out with. Anyway, she said hello and a stream of German that I assume must have been asking me whether I needed assistance. I hadn't thought this far ahead and essentially asked for a washing machine and dryer the same way I ask for coffee every morning, which probably wasn't spot on but it was worth a try and I might get extra credit for having tried before asking whether she spoke English. "Ich mochte eine Waschmaschine und eine Trockner. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" She said she didn't speak English and kept right on going, asking whether I wanted a combined washer and dryer or if I wanted two separate machines. So...we did the entire deal in German, including going over the features of each and scheduling delivery. She did ask an English-speaking colleague to help input my address information for delivery, but otherwise it was my first major German transaction. I was quite pleased.
While I don't feel the need to have TV service immediately, I can't imagine being at the new place without some means of playing music without the aid of headphones. There is a cool iPod dock here in the hotel room that I really like and is not like most of the ones in the US (e.g. the Bose dock, the little iHome alarm clock things, or that weird JBL O thing) and actually looks nice (versus looking like black, silver or white painted metal), so I thought I'd buy one of them. I couldn't find that model and only saw a bunch of painted metal stuff and some plastic ones, none of which seemed appropriate. So I moved on to the upper level of the store (a Best Buy-like kind of placed called Saturn, but not to be confused with the car of the same name) to check out phone sets for the landline (I ended up getting a cool pair of Siemens phones; no bribes were involved nor did I receive preferential conditions -- auditors will understand this). I heard some kids start playing around with some music played quite loudly and looked over to their area. The computer area. Hmmm.... So when they left, I checked it out.
There was an entire aisle of nothing but speakers for computers, which wasn't that interesting other than that a large share of them also had subwoofers. Apparently it's for the ultimate gaming experience, which I wouldn't know about, but a lot of them also had direct connections for MP3 players. So I got a Hercules system with some funky wavy speakers and a subwoofer with a dock for the iPod. For €59. Take that JBL and Bose! And the sound is truly amazing, even when the speakers are just perched on a bunch of boxes since there is no table (woofer is on the floor, obviously). I just can't believe I had never seen something like this before -- probably just wasn't in the market, not being a gamer and all. Rock on!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
30 January 2009 - Everything's better 'mit Joghurt'
At some point in this blog I apparently made a reference to, at breakfast, enjoying an Acti mel chaser. Someone asked me what Actimel was. Well.... The short answer is it is the nectar of the gods. The longer answer is that it is the nectar of the digestion gods which comes in a 100g servings (about three gulps -- which I suppose is the same in metric or standard measurements) and a variety of flavors (my current favorite is cherry). Of course, the truth may be something else entirely because I'm not sure exactly what it is because I got hooked on it in Poland where the labelling was in Polish and looking at my little stash here with German labelling isn't particularly helpful either. Nutshell, though, I believe that it has active cultures that assist in digestion and somehow in improving the immune system. I base this on my ability to look at pictures on the packaging with an outline of a human form with stars going from gullet to belly, which I assume means healing magic spreads from the moment Actimel is consumed. I also base this on the similarity it has to some of the stuff I had to eat in El Salvador when I was in the hospital and they needed to jumpstart my digestive processes. It's now available in the US and I suspect was the precursor to the Activia stuff you now see marketed.
Actimel is like a really thin/watery version of liquid yogurt. (Yeah, NOW you totally want to run out and buy some!) Which brings me to today's topic -- yogurt. I ate yogurt in the US on occasion -- you know, a decent source of calcium with some protein as well. The yogurt here is sooooo much better. Someone said that it has something to do with lack of pasteurization or a different method of some sort. Good stuff, though. The thing is, yogurt isn't just the Yoplait variety over here; it seems to be in nearly everything. I'm starting to wonder if it's like how the orange juice and breakfast cereal companies started adding calcium to their products.
Case in point, early on here I was in the refrigerated aisle at the grocery store looking for butter or a buttery spread (because, let's be honest, I couldn't tell what was what). I ended up getting a container of Du darfst Die Leichte mit Jogurt. "Oh! With Joghurt! It MUST be good. And good FOR me." Turns out it is the most creamy, easy-to-spread buttery substance I've encountered. So a few days later when I was in the market for a salad dressing, you can imagine how the Garten-Kräuter salad dressing "mit Joghurt" caught my eye. Coincidence that it is delightful? Probably not. And this week I had to replace my vat o' buttery goodness and noticed that the foil top of the tub is advertising "Eine neue Idee von Du darfst! Die neue Joghurtsaucen Idee als Basis für Ihre Saucenkreationen in der warmen und kalten Küche." Oh, Du darst, you had me at "mit Joghurt....."
Actimel is like a really thin/watery version of liquid yogurt. (Yeah, NOW you totally want to run out and buy some!) Which brings me to today's topic -- yogurt. I ate yogurt in the US on occasion -- you know, a decent source of calcium with some protein as well. The yogurt here is sooooo much better. Someone said that it has something to do with lack of pasteurization or a different method of some sort. Good stuff, though. The thing is, yogurt isn't just the Yoplait variety over here; it seems to be in nearly everything. I'm starting to wonder if it's like how the orange juice and breakfast cereal companies started adding calcium to their products.
Case in point, early on here I was in the refrigerated aisle at the grocery store looking for butter or a buttery spread (because, let's be honest, I couldn't tell what was what). I ended up getting a container of Du darfst Die Leichte mit Jogurt. "Oh! With Joghurt! It MUST be good. And good FOR me." Turns out it is the most creamy, easy-to-spread buttery substance I've encountered. So a few days later when I was in the market for a salad dressing, you can imagine how the Garten-Kräuter salad dressing "mit Joghurt" caught my eye. Coincidence that it is delightful? Probably not. And this week I had to replace my vat o' buttery goodness and noticed that the foil top of the tub is advertising "Eine neue Idee von Du darfst! Die neue Joghurtsaucen Idee als Basis für Ihre Saucenkreationen in der warmen und kalten Küche." Oh, Du darst, you had me at "mit Joghurt....."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
29 January 2009 - Stressing on Strasses
Apologies for the delay in posting. The last few days have been pretty long and just a bit more crazy than usual. For starters, on Monday we had the apartment "handover," which I thought would last about 15 minutes and consist of the provision of keys, a quick tour of the basement area to show me my parking spot and the storage area and, um, maybe ringing the doorbell. Yeah, not so much. Birgit from the relocation company (who was so helpful in helping me find the apartment in the first place) was there as my wing person. I assumed that the the rental agent (who I don't think works for the rental company, but nevertheless is getting a good chunk of change for hooking me up with my place) would be there or, since her renter-finding was done, someone from the rental company. Not surprisingly, I underestimated the process and the number of people who would be participating in the process.
The rental agent was indeed there. AND someone from the rental company. And some other random person who didn't seem to do anything. And a few minutes later a woman representing the builder (based on her business card, though also supported by the drill bits that fell out of her German-version-of-a-Carhartt coat, she is an engineer and the site manager) also showed up. Um, the handover took over two hours. It involved going over every square millimeter of the apartment checking for marks on the floor, scratches on the glass, other potential damage, and general spotting of dirtiness. Birgit clearly had done this before and set to work filling out a detailed checklist that the landlord provided. Soooo glad she was there. Plus that gave me time to shoot the breeze with the site manager, asking a bunch of questions about the building structure (kind of a stucco-like fully insulated outside surface and then an inner wall made out of chalk concrete or something like that, with internal walls created from the type of framing I'm more familiar with), the electricity, the tile material, and a bunch of other random questions. (Hey, I'm not Sparky's little sister for nothing!) I also confirmed that the place was entirely without lighting except for on the balcony where external lighting fixtures were in place so that everything looked uniform on the outside. I was joking that if I ever needed light, now I'd know where to go. I should know by now not to joke....
Monday night I was supposed to meet two colleagues from the UK at the Sheraton Offenbach Hotel where we were all attending an anti-corruption conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. The conference materials listed it as being located in Frankfurt/Offenbach on Berlinerstrasse 111. I had been on that street last weekend and figured I knew where I was going, but typed the address into Bonnie's navigation system just to be sure. She easily found the street, but not lucky number 111. Odd. Well, how difficult could it be, right? So I headed out to Berlinerstrasse. About half an hour later I had seen no sign whatsoever of a Sheraton and the neighborhood seemed almost sketchy, so I turned around for a second run. My bag with the conference brochure was in the trunk, so I couldn't check for the hotel's number, so I tried calling the guys on my BlackBerry. Which promptly swore at me in German, saying something about "kosten," which I interpreted as it being unwilling to make international calls as I hadn't been approved for such costly things. Grrrr.....
So what to do? I couldn't find anywhere to pull over, but recognized the 'hood as being near my new apartment. Hmmm..... So I set a course for home and pulled into the garage, figuring I could find the number and make a call from there. No signal while underground. Grrrr.... So I grabbed my IKEA lamp out of the trunk and headed up to my unit. Where I realized that the light bulbs for said lamp were in a different bag in Bonnie's trunk. Grrrrr..... So, you guessed it, I used the BlackBerry light to find the conference information in my bag, then had to go out onto the well-lit balcony to actually read said conference information. Which included no number for the hotel. So I had to look it up on the BlackBerry browser, which of course I could have done without the aid of the balcony light, but it was what it was.
The person who picked up the phone at the hotel seemed confused when I was asking for the cross-street on Berlinerstrasse. Um, yeah, they're in Offenbach, not Frankfurt. Thanks for inferring on the conference materials with Frankfurt/Offenbach that you were in Frankfurt. Grrrr..... I made it there about 10 minutes later and, with dining service being meant to savor the experience, didn't make it home until midnight. It would be the first of several long days this week.
The rental agent was indeed there. AND someone from the rental company. And some other random person who didn't seem to do anything. And a few minutes later a woman representing the builder (based on her business card, though also supported by the drill bits that fell out of her German-version-of-a-Carhartt coat, she is an engineer and the site manager) also showed up. Um, the handover took over two hours. It involved going over every square millimeter of the apartment checking for marks on the floor, scratches on the glass, other potential damage, and general spotting of dirtiness. Birgit clearly had done this before and set to work filling out a detailed checklist that the landlord provided. Soooo glad she was there. Plus that gave me time to shoot the breeze with the site manager, asking a bunch of questions about the building structure (kind of a stucco-like fully insulated outside surface and then an inner wall made out of chalk concrete or something like that, with internal walls created from the type of framing I'm more familiar with), the electricity, the tile material, and a bunch of other random questions. (Hey, I'm not Sparky's little sister for nothing!) I also confirmed that the place was entirely without lighting except for on the balcony where external lighting fixtures were in place so that everything looked uniform on the outside. I was joking that if I ever needed light, now I'd know where to go. I should know by now not to joke....
Monday night I was supposed to meet two colleagues from the UK at the Sheraton Offenbach Hotel where we were all attending an anti-corruption conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. The conference materials listed it as being located in Frankfurt/Offenbach on Berlinerstrasse 111. I had been on that street last weekend and figured I knew where I was going, but typed the address into Bonnie's navigation system just to be sure. She easily found the street, but not lucky number 111. Odd. Well, how difficult could it be, right? So I headed out to Berlinerstrasse. About half an hour later I had seen no sign whatsoever of a Sheraton and the neighborhood seemed almost sketchy, so I turned around for a second run. My bag with the conference brochure was in the trunk, so I couldn't check for the hotel's number, so I tried calling the guys on my BlackBerry. Which promptly swore at me in German, saying something about "kosten," which I interpreted as it being unwilling to make international calls as I hadn't been approved for such costly things. Grrrr.....
So what to do? I couldn't find anywhere to pull over, but recognized the 'hood as being near my new apartment. Hmmm..... So I set a course for home and pulled into the garage, figuring I could find the number and make a call from there. No signal while underground. Grrrr.... So I grabbed my IKEA lamp out of the trunk and headed up to my unit. Where I realized that the light bulbs for said lamp were in a different bag in Bonnie's trunk. Grrrrr..... So, you guessed it, I used the BlackBerry light to find the conference information in my bag, then had to go out onto the well-lit balcony to actually read said conference information. Which included no number for the hotel. So I had to look it up on the BlackBerry browser, which of course I could have done without the aid of the balcony light, but it was what it was.
The person who picked up the phone at the hotel seemed confused when I was asking for the cross-street on Berlinerstrasse. Um, yeah, they're in Offenbach, not Frankfurt. Thanks for inferring on the conference materials with Frankfurt/Offenbach that you were in Frankfurt. Grrrr..... I made it there about 10 minutes later and, with dining service being meant to savor the experience, didn't make it home until midnight. It would be the first of several long days this week.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
24 January 2009 - The kitchen saga continues
So earlier this week while we were sipping champagne in the office for a colleague's birthday, we were chatting about a variety of things and I mentioned my frustration with the kitchen saga. (At this point, the firm was requesting additional approval from my new boss here, which I figured meant the price was expensive not only to my ignorant-of-German-kitchen self. I asked one of the other expat partners what she had done for her kitchen and she said she, too, had originally received an even more outrageous quote than I did and which the firm immediately rejected, and ended up getting her kitchen from Mann Mobilia and purchasing her appliances separately for significantly less than the original quote. Birgit from the relocation company had also taken the kitchen place's drawing of the proposed kitchen to the company that had done the kitchen in her own house, just to get a ballpark estimate. Their estimated price was over €2,500 less than the lowest revised quote received from the kitchen dude. Hmmm....)
Well, it turns out that a few people had recently bought kitchens for their houses (read, "real kitchens" versus shoebox-size apartment kitchens). They didn't pay nearly so much for their kitchens and were shocked at the estimate. IKEA and Mann Mobilia were both mentioned as having good quality solutions. I did some quick research on IKEA and knew they were right at least for pricing and the expat partner was clearly pleased with Mann Mobilia, so figured it was time to move on to different options for the kitchen. So I faxed the kitchen dude a letter thanking him for his time and creative solutions, but the difference between his quote and what the firm was willing to pay (particularly since we have a moratorium on all capital projects within our own office) was simply too far and the firm had declined to approve his latest quotation.
I figured this would be the end of that saga and I would move on to a different saga with Mann Mobilia or something. Well, the kitchen dude called me up and asked what the firm's budget was. I said I didn't know (which was true, though I had some idea), so I gave him an estimate that was about half of his prior offer. There was a long pause. And then, "Oh.... Well, let me take a look at some other options. Perhaps we could use less expensive appliances. Have you heard of Whirlpool?" Oooooh, them's fightin' words if you're going to dis a Chicago client!! So he put together a new quote that was right around the estimated budget amount and he walked me through the changes on Friday afternoon. In a nutshell, there are slightly fewer cabinets and the appliances are downgraded and no longer cleverly concealed behind cabinet facings, but I think it'll be fine. I went to Mann Mobilia today to check out a sale they were having and it was a madhouse. Perhaps it's a bit more normal on a weekday, but I don't relish the idea of figuring out a plan there. And the sale was only for the kitchens they had there and they couldn't start on a design from me without specific measurements. Cross your fingers that the firm approves the kitchen dude's quote -- which also includes provision of a kitchenette, which is some sort of all-in-one sink/stove unit that would at least allow me to cook before the kitchen is available in some 4-5 more weeks.
Well, it turns out that a few people had recently bought kitchens for their houses (read, "real kitchens" versus shoebox-size apartment kitchens). They didn't pay nearly so much for their kitchens and were shocked at the estimate. IKEA and Mann Mobilia were both mentioned as having good quality solutions. I did some quick research on IKEA and knew they were right at least for pricing and the expat partner was clearly pleased with Mann Mobilia, so figured it was time to move on to different options for the kitchen. So I faxed the kitchen dude a letter thanking him for his time and creative solutions, but the difference between his quote and what the firm was willing to pay (particularly since we have a moratorium on all capital projects within our own office) was simply too far and the firm had declined to approve his latest quotation.
I figured this would be the end of that saga and I would move on to a different saga with Mann Mobilia or something. Well, the kitchen dude called me up and asked what the firm's budget was. I said I didn't know (which was true, though I had some idea), so I gave him an estimate that was about half of his prior offer. There was a long pause. And then, "Oh.... Well, let me take a look at some other options. Perhaps we could use less expensive appliances. Have you heard of Whirlpool?" Oooooh, them's fightin' words if you're going to dis a Chicago client!! So he put together a new quote that was right around the estimated budget amount and he walked me through the changes on Friday afternoon. In a nutshell, there are slightly fewer cabinets and the appliances are downgraded and no longer cleverly concealed behind cabinet facings, but I think it'll be fine. I went to Mann Mobilia today to check out a sale they were having and it was a madhouse. Perhaps it's a bit more normal on a weekday, but I don't relish the idea of figuring out a plan there. And the sale was only for the kitchens they had there and they couldn't start on a design from me without specific measurements. Cross your fingers that the firm approves the kitchen dude's quote -- which also includes provision of a kitchenette, which is some sort of all-in-one sink/stove unit that would at least allow me to cook before the kitchen is available in some 4-5 more weeks.
Friday, January 23, 2009
23 January 2009 - Bonnie -- the bonding continues
[Suggested background music for reading this blog: Rose Royce's "Carwash" -- good funk and appropriate here. This may be a new blog feature, like an extension of the SIP Soundtrack.]
She's clean and we both feel better about that. Bonnie, that is (I assume Ms. Royce is as well). She was filthy with all the street mung and nasty weather, but I had heard all these stories about how different each of the car wash places were here that it was a bit intimidating, especially on days when a lot of people are anxious to wash their cars and I might be holding up the efficient German process.
So Thursday last night I had to stop and buy more gas. (The cost of diesel is down to €1.049 per liter from €1.079 when I last/first fueled her, for those who are interested or are considering whether to advise me to start my own biodiesel manufacturing capabilities here.) I went to the same Shell station I had visited the first time. (I suspect that I will be intensely loyal to establishments I encounter early on, not because they are the best, but because it's so nice to go where I know what's going on.) As I was paying inside, I noticed a price list for car washes. I hadn't even noticed that there was a car wash attached to the place. So I asked for him to add the Express-Wasch to my total. He gave me a card with a number on it and I figured that I was set and drove around back.
I had to get out of my car to enter my code into the machine, but no big, the code was accepted and I believed it was telling me to drive forward. So I got into the car and drove in until the red lights came on and signalled me to stop. Piece of cake, right? So I sat there waiting for the wash to begin. And sat there. And sat there. Hmmm.... Maybe I actually drove too far forward? So I backed up a bit, and then the green lights came back on telling me to drive forward. Okay.... And the red lights were back on again. I stopped, turned off the engine, and waited for, once again, nothing. Hmmm... Around this time someone pulled up behind me, so the pressure was on. I finally just thought I'd abort and tried to drive forward, thinking the door at the front would open. Not so much. Hmm....
So I got out of the car (which would have been the perfect Murphy's Law time for the car wash to begin, right?) and walked back to the other driver who was just getting out of her car. She spoke English and I asked for her assistance. Well, apparently the deal with this car wash is that you are supposed to get out of the car when the red light comes on, then walk back to the machine and press START and then wait while it (with doors still open and mist spraying out at you) does the wash. Then it tells you to get back in and off you go. Who knew? Suffice it to say, I will now be getting all of my car washes at this place simply because A) I know where it's located, B) I know how it works, and C) it's connected to my gas station of choice. Ah, habits....
In other Bonnie news, I learned about one of her features this week. I had noticed that when I was sitting in traffic and put her in neutral so I could rest my clutch foot, she would frequently stall. Most frustrating. Well, I was sharing this with the guys on the way to lunch one day and they said that it is actually a special BMW feature that you pay extra money for. Huh? Apparently it's supposed to save fuel you just re-engage the engine by pushing the clutch in. It still seems to me, though, like this would be a lot of extra wear and tear on the engine or starter. Kind of like how it's supposed to use more energy to turn lights on and off frequently than to just leave the lights on over a period of time. I have to believe the German auto engineers (Gunther?) have it all figured out, though. Or it's a sneaky ploy to get me to buy a new car sooner than I'd prefer.
I should note that my German driver's license is on its way. Did you know that you don't have to renew your driver's license over here? Not even when you change addresses. Interesting. You do, of course, have to change your license plates when you move, though. (I may not have mentioned this, but the license plate indicates the city of the car's owner/driver. There are really four sections of the license plate. At the far left is the EU symbol and the letter(s) indicating the country that issued the license plate (in Bonnie's case, D for Deutschland). Then on the white face of the plate, there are 1-3 letters at the left that indicate the city of the owner/driver. In Bonnie's case, M for Munich. Then there are two round stickers arranged vertically, the top one indicating the date on which the plate registration expires, and the lower one indicating the landen (like a state) that issued the plates (in Bonnie's case, January and Bayern, respectively). And then there is a combination of letters and numbers that don't appear to have any special significant (LY-1685, in case you want to steal Bonnie's ID).)
So anyway, the license.... Apparently, because my Illinois driver's license was issued over two years ago, I don't have to take a driving test here. Birgit from the relocation company stopped by the office earlier this week and picked up both my passport and Illinois driver's license and took them to some company that is authorized to translate the Illinois license. Then yesterday, we went to the driver's license office to apply for the license. My first opportunity to see the German civil service in action as Birgit handled all the work permit and city registration issues without my having to go with her. It was fascinating. You go to a room that resembles an empty classroom. Some hard wood chairs in a row, some of them with a writing surface attached. And a machine at the front that hands out tickets, which are then "called"/displayed periodically on a digital sign overhead. No human there. Our number was finally called and we walked to the indicated room, which was some desks in an open area with an awful lot of live plants and some random posters on the wall apparently brought in by the employees. It almost looked like a fun place to work, which took me by surprise as I have never envisioned the DMV as anything close to nice. (Birgit said this was not a typical office environment for the DMV here, either, I should note.) "The guy" had me sign some stuff, provide a copy of a photo (yes, you get to bring your own photo rather than being at their mercy!), had Birgit go somewhere to pay something to someone, and then we left. Apparently in six weeks ago I am supposed to get a letter telling me to come back for my license. Interesting process.
She's clean and we both feel better about that. Bonnie, that is (I assume Ms. Royce is as well). She was filthy with all the street mung and nasty weather, but I had heard all these stories about how different each of the car wash places were here that it was a bit intimidating, especially on days when a lot of people are anxious to wash their cars and I might be holding up the efficient German process.
So Thursday last night I had to stop and buy more gas. (The cost of diesel is down to €1.049 per liter from €1.079 when I last/first fueled her, for those who are interested or are considering whether to advise me to start my own biodiesel manufacturing capabilities here.) I went to the same Shell station I had visited the first time. (I suspect that I will be intensely loyal to establishments I encounter early on, not because they are the best, but because it's so nice to go where I know what's going on.) As I was paying inside, I noticed a price list for car washes. I hadn't even noticed that there was a car wash attached to the place. So I asked for him to add the Express-Wasch to my total. He gave me a card with a number on it and I figured that I was set and drove around back.
I had to get out of my car to enter my code into the machine, but no big, the code was accepted and I believed it was telling me to drive forward. So I got into the car and drove in until the red lights came on and signalled me to stop. Piece of cake, right? So I sat there waiting for the wash to begin. And sat there. And sat there. Hmmm.... Maybe I actually drove too far forward? So I backed up a bit, and then the green lights came back on telling me to drive forward. Okay.... And the red lights were back on again. I stopped, turned off the engine, and waited for, once again, nothing. Hmmm... Around this time someone pulled up behind me, so the pressure was on. I finally just thought I'd abort and tried to drive forward, thinking the door at the front would open. Not so much. Hmm....
So I got out of the car (which would have been the perfect Murphy's Law time for the car wash to begin, right?) and walked back to the other driver who was just getting out of her car. She spoke English and I asked for her assistance. Well, apparently the deal with this car wash is that you are supposed to get out of the car when the red light comes on, then walk back to the machine and press START and then wait while it (with doors still open and mist spraying out at you) does the wash. Then it tells you to get back in and off you go. Who knew? Suffice it to say, I will now be getting all of my car washes at this place simply because A) I know where it's located, B) I know how it works, and C) it's connected to my gas station of choice. Ah, habits....
In other Bonnie news, I learned about one of her features this week. I had noticed that when I was sitting in traffic and put her in neutral so I could rest my clutch foot, she would frequently stall. Most frustrating. Well, I was sharing this with the guys on the way to lunch one day and they said that it is actually a special BMW feature that you pay extra money for. Huh? Apparently it's supposed to save fuel you just re-engage the engine by pushing the clutch in. It still seems to me, though, like this would be a lot of extra wear and tear on the engine or starter. Kind of like how it's supposed to use more energy to turn lights on and off frequently than to just leave the lights on over a period of time. I have to believe the German auto engineers (Gunther?) have it all figured out, though. Or it's a sneaky ploy to get me to buy a new car sooner than I'd prefer.
I should note that my German driver's license is on its way. Did you know that you don't have to renew your driver's license over here? Not even when you change addresses. Interesting. You do, of course, have to change your license plates when you move, though. (I may not have mentioned this, but the license plate indicates the city of the car's owner/driver. There are really four sections of the license plate. At the far left is the EU symbol and the letter(s) indicating the country that issued the license plate (in Bonnie's case, D for Deutschland). Then on the white face of the plate, there are 1-3 letters at the left that indicate the city of the owner/driver. In Bonnie's case, M for Munich. Then there are two round stickers arranged vertically, the top one indicating the date on which the plate registration expires, and the lower one indicating the landen (like a state) that issued the plates (in Bonnie's case, January and Bayern, respectively). And then there is a combination of letters and numbers that don't appear to have any special significant (LY-1685, in case you want to steal Bonnie's ID).)
So anyway, the license.... Apparently, because my Illinois driver's license was issued over two years ago, I don't have to take a driving test here. Birgit from the relocation company stopped by the office earlier this week and picked up both my passport and Illinois driver's license and took them to some company that is authorized to translate the Illinois license. Then yesterday, we went to the driver's license office to apply for the license. My first opportunity to see the German civil service in action as Birgit handled all the work permit and city registration issues without my having to go with her. It was fascinating. You go to a room that resembles an empty classroom. Some hard wood chairs in a row, some of them with a writing surface attached. And a machine at the front that hands out tickets, which are then "called"/displayed periodically on a digital sign overhead. No human there. Our number was finally called and we walked to the indicated room, which was some desks in an open area with an awful lot of live plants and some random posters on the wall apparently brought in by the employees. It almost looked like a fun place to work, which took me by surprise as I have never envisioned the DMV as anything close to nice. (Birgit said this was not a typical office environment for the DMV here, either, I should note.) "The guy" had me sign some stuff, provide a copy of a photo (yes, you get to bring your own photo rather than being at their mercy!), had Birgit go somewhere to pay something to someone, and then we left. Apparently in six weeks ago I am supposed to get a letter telling me to come back for my license. Interesting process.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
22 January 2009 - Eating and drinking in the office
Dear employee assistance program....
I feel like I should be starting the blog with something like that because I was a bit confused and alarmed at what I saw in the bullpen area of our floor the other day. Champagne. Poured neatly into delicate glass flutes. To clarify, that is our floor. In the office. Of a conservative firm. During the day. Hmmm....
This is how birthdays are celebrated in Germany. I had read something in a book about how in Germany one must throw one's own birthday party in the office and alcoholic beverages may be involved, but I figured that couldn't seriously apply to our firm. Though I HAD always wondered why there were champagne flutes in the cabinets of the kitchen on our floor.... Not only does the firm allow these celebrations, but enables by providing those flutes AND gives the birthday boy or girl a bottle of champagne. Seriously. However, the celebration with colleagues is indeed up to the birthday person. S/he is expected to provide a round of champagne as well as sweets (in the example I witnessed, a variety of tasty pastries that most assuredly were not purchased at the German equivalent of Dominick's, Jewel or even Whole Foods). It was delightful. Can't wait for the next birthday! Oh. Did I mention that the office birthday list includes one's YEAR of birth?! A whole new world.... Does this mean I can stop trying to cover up the gray?
One other fun feature of the office is the morning food cart that makes a sweep through our floor around 10:06 AM. Give or take. A young woman pushes a stainless steel cart that is laden with sandwiches, pastries, yogurt with muesli and other delights and you either wish her a good morning or ask her to stop. I was running late this morning and skipped breakfast at the hotel for the first time. So when she passed by today I hailed her. Had a delightful cheese and tomato sandwich on multigrain brain. This could be sooooo dangerous. It may be even better than the "Coffee Lady" speed dial on the Cisco (Fran!!) phones in the Warsaw (Poland, not Indiana) office.
Finally, how does Starbucks survive over here? In the office we have these coffee machines that grind whole coffee beans and make a cup of either espresso or coffee. I think that it's much better than SBUX, but others in the office say the machines put out dreadful coffee and the better bet is our own little coffee place on the main floor, which is admittedly better than the coffee machines, and thus infinitely better than SBUX coffee. And that coffee pales in comparison to the cafe au lait that the hotel fixes for me each morning. So, nutshell, the most blissful coffee wherever you go, all of which puts SBUX to shame. So how do they survive? I think it can only be that they still sell their beverages at a premium, so perhaps they are positioning themselves as a luxury that people will buy simply because it is a luxury, not because the coffee's all that great. Wake up and smell your own coffee, Germany!!
I feel like I should be starting the blog with something like that because I was a bit confused and alarmed at what I saw in the bullpen area of our floor the other day. Champagne. Poured neatly into delicate glass flutes. To clarify, that is our floor. In the office. Of a conservative firm. During the day. Hmmm....
This is how birthdays are celebrated in Germany. I had read something in a book about how in Germany one must throw one's own birthday party in the office and alcoholic beverages may be involved, but I figured that couldn't seriously apply to our firm. Though I HAD always wondered why there were champagne flutes in the cabinets of the kitchen on our floor.... Not only does the firm allow these celebrations, but enables by providing those flutes AND gives the birthday boy or girl a bottle of champagne. Seriously. However, the celebration with colleagues is indeed up to the birthday person. S/he is expected to provide a round of champagne as well as sweets (in the example I witnessed, a variety of tasty pastries that most assuredly were not purchased at the German equivalent of Dominick's, Jewel or even Whole Foods). It was delightful. Can't wait for the next birthday! Oh. Did I mention that the office birthday list includes one's YEAR of birth?! A whole new world.... Does this mean I can stop trying to cover up the gray?
One other fun feature of the office is the morning food cart that makes a sweep through our floor around 10:06 AM. Give or take. A young woman pushes a stainless steel cart that is laden with sandwiches, pastries, yogurt with muesli and other delights and you either wish her a good morning or ask her to stop. I was running late this morning and skipped breakfast at the hotel for the first time. So when she passed by today I hailed her. Had a delightful cheese and tomato sandwich on multigrain brain. This could be sooooo dangerous. It may be even better than the "Coffee Lady" speed dial on the Cisco (Fran!!) phones in the Warsaw (Poland, not Indiana) office.
Finally, how does Starbucks survive over here? In the office we have these coffee machines that grind whole coffee beans and make a cup of either espresso or coffee. I think that it's much better than SBUX, but others in the office say the machines put out dreadful coffee and the better bet is our own little coffee place on the main floor, which is admittedly better than the coffee machines, and thus infinitely better than SBUX coffee. And that coffee pales in comparison to the cafe au lait that the hotel fixes for me each morning. So, nutshell, the most blissful coffee wherever you go, all of which puts SBUX to shame. So how do they survive? I think it can only be that they still sell their beverages at a premium, so perhaps they are positioning themselves as a luxury that people will buy simply because it is a luxury, not because the coffee's all that great. Wake up and smell your own coffee, Germany!!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
21 January 2009 - Yes we can...get inauguration coverage here
Yesterday was, of course, the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as the 44th President of the United States. I choose not to go into politics right now, but I was amazed at the coverage over here. I suspect I would've gone positively nuts with what the level of coverage must have been in the U.S. While Americans were still sleeping, CNN International was already trying to lure those of us in Europe into an all day viewing extravaganza. I had to go to work, of course, but left early so I could be back home in time to hopefully catch the swearing-in around 6 PM our time. Even on the drive in to work, though, I heard frequent mention on the radio (all in German, of course, except the US military's station) of "Barack Obama" and he was on the front page of all five of the newspapers that are delivered here to the hotel, which was also the case this morning.
Anyway, it was interesting viewing. I think CNN has gone way overboard on their weird technology toys. "The Moment" stuff seemed kind of unnecessary, but thank goodness they didn't seem to be channeling anyone via holograph like they did during election coverage, which was just downright creepy. I found (for about 10 seconds) their fastest-turnaround-from-satellite-other-than-military-satellite image of the Mall and the ant hill-like clusters of people fascinating. Amazing number of people. I would have liked to have had more coverage from Candy Crowley, though -- did she seriously request to be in the pickup truck on the parade route? I'm thinking not so much. And was it just me, or did Wolf Blitzer seem to be trying desperately to maintain control over the assembled team and try to keep Anderson Cooper at bay? Does Wolf fear that CNN is going to do an Aaron Brown job on him, too? Who can say....
It was also interesting viewing the coverage while in another country. I may not be a flag-waving kind of American, generally, but there's something about seeing our wildly colorful flag flying when abroad that always gets me choked up. I have particularly vivid memories of it flying above the US embassies in Tokyo and El Salvador. Seeing the different versions of the flag through time in the background of the inauguration stage area got to me. And the singing of "My Country 'tis of Thee." And the soldiers in the crowd. And even Bush 41, a former soldier walking with his cane. By the time they actually brought out the Lincoln Bible (I can't imagine they let that out of its climate-controlled storage in the Library of Congress!) for the oath of office (seriously, Chief Justice Roberts???), they didn't need to ask me to stand as I had been on my feet for quite some time. So there were some patriotic tears shed. I do so love this country. And I am so pleased that other people around the world may (at least for now) try to love it, too.
Anyway, it was interesting viewing. I think CNN has gone way overboard on their weird technology toys. "The Moment" stuff seemed kind of unnecessary, but thank goodness they didn't seem to be channeling anyone via holograph like they did during election coverage, which was just downright creepy. I found (for about 10 seconds) their fastest-turnaround-from-satellite-other-than-military-satellite image of the Mall and the ant hill-like clusters of people fascinating. Amazing number of people. I would have liked to have had more coverage from Candy Crowley, though -- did she seriously request to be in the pickup truck on the parade route? I'm thinking not so much. And was it just me, or did Wolf Blitzer seem to be trying desperately to maintain control over the assembled team and try to keep Anderson Cooper at bay? Does Wolf fear that CNN is going to do an Aaron Brown job on him, too? Who can say....
It was also interesting viewing the coverage while in another country. I may not be a flag-waving kind of American, generally, but there's something about seeing our wildly colorful flag flying when abroad that always gets me choked up. I have particularly vivid memories of it flying above the US embassies in Tokyo and El Salvador. Seeing the different versions of the flag through time in the background of the inauguration stage area got to me. And the singing of "My Country 'tis of Thee." And the soldiers in the crowd. And even Bush 41, a former soldier walking with his cane. By the time they actually brought out the Lincoln Bible (I can't imagine they let that out of its climate-controlled storage in the Library of Congress!) for the oath of office (seriously, Chief Justice Roberts???), they didn't need to ask me to stand as I had been on my feet for quite some time. So there were some patriotic tears shed. I do so love this country. And I am so pleased that other people around the world may (at least for now) try to love it, too.
Monday, January 19, 2009
19 January 2009 - The Kitchen
So...this is my kitchen in the picture. Notice the curious absence of not only appliances but also otherwise-useful items like kitchen cabinets and even the, um, kitchen sink. This is apparently commonplace in Germany. People buy their kitchens and take them with them.
Now, you're probably wondering the same thing that I wonder pretty much every day -- Why (and how) do you take your kitchen cabinets and sink with you when 99% of the time the new kitchen room will have different dimensions than the one you just left? I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer. Which, in itself, is puzzling because there is a reason for everything in Germany. (I should also note that people also take their lighting fixtures with them, so unless I pick up a lamp or something at IKEA, I will be living by candlelight at my new digs until I purchase and install said electrical fixtures. It's like the essence of what we learned -- and promptly forgot, because it was crazy, right? -- in property law class.)
So on Friday morning I met with the kitchen designer, who has apparently designed all the kitchens in my new apartment building. He had taken measurements of my miniscule kitchen area (yes, it's as small as it looks in the picture) and had some preliminary ideas. The meeting was supposed to take about an hour. So, two and a half hours later, I told him I had to go, given that I'd already postponed a meeting at the office and it was, after all, a workday (a day in which people such as myself generally work). He said he had about an hour of "homework" to do before he would have a quote. Fine. I said I'd give him a call after my meeting. I did and he told me he'd send me a picture, though what I was asking for was a quote. I got it and then he wanted to talk at greater length, but I had other things going on (you know, work!), so we agreed I would call him at 7 PM. So I did, at which point he asked if I was on my way to see him. Uhhh....no???? Given that the relocation company person had dropped me off at the office and I had to take the train back to the Liv'in in order to pick up my car and then drive to his office. He said he'd wait. Okay....
So I didn't get there until about 8:30, which is pretty late for a German business to stay open, based on my limited experience. We discussed the updated design and he gave me a quote. I searched the room for a defribrillator kit to revive myself because I was certain a heart attack was approaching. Care to guess the estimate? Over €16,000. Uhhhh.... Oh, but wait, he'd give me a discount because of his experience or something with the building, so only €13,900 or so. Now, I get sticker shock all the time over here, but this is well on it's way to purchasing a car! Fortunately, it required approval by the firm. So I faxed the quote to the US and asked if they could turn around the approval/rejection by Monday morning. Sure. Except input was also required by the firm in Germany, which makes sense since they would know how overpriced or potentially reasonable this kitchen was.
Suffice it to say that the firm also experienced sticker shock. I went back to the kitchen designer (who's really a great guy and who has excellent ideas) and asked what he could do to bring the price down and to send me an updated quotation. Well, the price came down to about €12,000, which still is a bit rich. So at present I have no approval for a kitchen, each day of non-approval pushes back the date at which the kitchen could be installed, and oh yeah, most of the other kitchen places apparently take about 6-8 weeks to get a kitchen installed versus two weeks. When I think about this, I get visions of myself on the floor of the kitchen pictured above, in the dark, warming my hands and my dinner on a little camp stove. Not exactly what I had in mind when I moved over here.... Stay tuned.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
15 January 2009 - Audi and Aldi (did I just say those in the same breath?)
As you might imagine, I was very interested to learn what kind of activity had caused such delays last night. Turns out it was a protest or rally of some sort related to education. Education?? Are you serious? Not protestors for the Iraq war? Not protestors on the conflict in Gaza? Not protestors cranked over the German government's new economic stimulus package? Not protestors angry over the loss of their jobs? Education???? Shouldn't teachers and children be home long before 10 PM on a schoolnight? But to a certain extent I find it somewhat charming that enough people actually care about education that they could cause me to feel their pain in the form of a three hour commute.
My favorite grocery store over here is Rewe, which I suppose is good because the grocery store that will be connected to the building of my new apartment is a Rewe. While I could continue to stumble over my favorite Rewe when I'm ignoring Bonnie's navigation orders, I decided to go to the Rewe that I had seen on Saturday next to the Mann Mobilia store very close to the office. I was a bit surprised when I went in. There was a little bakery at the very front of the store and somewhat disconnected from the rest of the store. The rest of the store being only a beverage store. No, I don't mean a liquor store; I mean a beverage store. Carbonated beverages, juice, water and a surprisingly small beer and wine section. Uhhh.... Bizarre.
Located in that same strip mallish area was an Aldi. Hmmm.... Sign looks like the same sign from those quality bargain grocery stores at home.... So I walked in. Oh, yeah, same place. I was truly amazed at the prices of some of the stuff, though. I tend to have a lot of soup for dinner here since I don't exactly have deluxe cooking facilities here and, well, I'm more or less limited to boiling water for a certain number of minutes when it comes to reading German cooking directions. Anyway, their soup mixes were a small fraction of what I've been paying at Rewe. A pretty good selection of pre-packaged cheese and dairy products and I'm quite certain this is where I will be outfitting my kitchen with staples like flour, sugar, spices, etc. Admittedly, I don't think I'm their target demographic, but it's convenient, the food is fine, and it is value priced. Case in point, I picked up a large bag of chips, a 30-count Toffifee candy thing (LOVE that stuff), some "frischkäse" (which appears to be kind of like a light cream cheese or goat cheese with herbs), three packages of soup, and a package of sliced turkey breast. For EUR 6,31. That's some good value! I mean, it's not quite as cool as the EUR 2,50 glass bowls at Mann Mobilia, but I'll take it. Alas, they do not sell espresso machines (though they did have a EUR 799 laptop).
Brief updates on my car situation. There is a rather long delay in obtaining a handsome new Audi A5, despite the downturn in the economy. There was a chance that I could get a car in two weeks that someone had canceled on, but it was gray with a beige interior, which just sounded like it would clash. And if I'm going to shell out for this handsome vehicle and have her (him?) for four years, I want it to four years of Priser Blue bliss. The Frankfurt Audi dealer has arranged a meeting with me next week for two hours (!!) to go through configuration options and then we'll order it from Ingolstadt! For a good time, go to www.com and check out the configuration options for an A5. Then go to www.audi.de for configuration. It'll blow your mind how much we're missing out on in the US.
There was a lot of traffic again this evening, though not quite so bad as last night. It seemed to be the same issue as last night with trafic slowing the closer I got to the area where I was first diverted last night. By now, though, Bonnie and I know this dealio, navigated to a shopping area just far enough south of the activity to skirt around it and made it home with no other diversions in about 50 minutes door-to-door. Is that all you have to challenge me, Frankfurt?! Is that it?!! I expect more of a challenge from educators, I have to say. Bring it! Bonnie and I are ready!
My favorite grocery store over here is Rewe, which I suppose is good because the grocery store that will be connected to the building of my new apartment is a Rewe. While I could continue to stumble over my favorite Rewe when I'm ignoring Bonnie's navigation orders, I decided to go to the Rewe that I had seen on Saturday next to the Mann Mobilia store very close to the office. I was a bit surprised when I went in. There was a little bakery at the very front of the store and somewhat disconnected from the rest of the store. The rest of the store being only a beverage store. No, I don't mean a liquor store; I mean a beverage store. Carbonated beverages, juice, water and a surprisingly small beer and wine section. Uhhh.... Bizarre.
Located in that same strip mallish area was an Aldi. Hmmm.... Sign looks like the same sign from those quality bargain grocery stores at home.... So I walked in. Oh, yeah, same place. I was truly amazed at the prices of some of the stuff, though. I tend to have a lot of soup for dinner here since I don't exactly have deluxe cooking facilities here and, well, I'm more or less limited to boiling water for a certain number of minutes when it comes to reading German cooking directions. Anyway, their soup mixes were a small fraction of what I've been paying at Rewe. A pretty good selection of pre-packaged cheese and dairy products and I'm quite certain this is where I will be outfitting my kitchen with staples like flour, sugar, spices, etc. Admittedly, I don't think I'm their target demographic, but it's convenient, the food is fine, and it is value priced. Case in point, I picked up a large bag of chips, a 30-count Toffifee candy thing (LOVE that stuff), some "frischkäse" (which appears to be kind of like a light cream cheese or goat cheese with herbs), three packages of soup, and a package of sliced turkey breast. For EUR 6,31. That's some good value! I mean, it's not quite as cool as the EUR 2,50 glass bowls at Mann Mobilia, but I'll take it. Alas, they do not sell espresso machines (though they did have a EUR 799 laptop).
Brief updates on my car situation. There is a rather long delay in obtaining a handsome new Audi A5, despite the downturn in the economy. There was a chance that I could get a car in two weeks that someone had canceled on, but it was gray with a beige interior, which just sounded like it would clash. And if I'm going to shell out for this handsome vehicle and have her (him?) for four years, I want it to four years of Priser Blue bliss. The Frankfurt Audi dealer has arranged a meeting with me next week for two hours (!!) to go through configuration options and then we'll order it from Ingolstadt! For a good time, go to www.com and check out the configuration options for an A5. Then go to www.audi.de for configuration. It'll blow your mind how much we're missing out on in the US.
There was a lot of traffic again this evening, though not quite so bad as last night. It seemed to be the same issue as last night with trafic slowing the closer I got to the area where I was first diverted last night. By now, though, Bonnie and I know this dealio, navigated to a shopping area just far enough south of the activity to skirt around it and made it home with no other diversions in about 50 minutes door-to-door. Is that all you have to challenge me, Frankfurt?! Is that it?!! I expect more of a challenge from educators, I have to say. Bring it! Bonnie and I are ready!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
14 January 2009 - Gilligan's Commute
It had to happen sooner or later. We all knew this, right? Inevitably, there had to be a day with a little stone in my shoe. A fly in my soup. Some kind of lapse, however brief, in my little love affair with Germany. Or at least Frankfurt. This was, alas, that day. Let the rant begin.
This could actually be a very short rant. At least in comparison to the event(s?) giving rise to said rant. It could be stated as simply as, "I left the office at around 7:14 PM and arrived at the Liv'in at 10:09 PM." That might begin to explain the title of today's blog, yet I feel it would deprive you of the color commentary (aka 'sarcasm') you have come to expect of this blog. So I will rant on. Not for my own catharsis, dear reader, but for you.
Despite having received snow earlier in the day, the road conditions were good as Bonnie and I were motoring our way back to the the city this evening. A terrific day in the office, more friends made, more German words learned, first day in my own office, more great Euro music on the radio -- and then full stop. Traffic backed up just as I was entering the city. Probably an accident, right? Nothing in sight, though, no sirens, no flashing lights, and still good road conditions. No, not even a big concert at the big festival hall area (where tickets to the P!nk concert in March are, alas, sold out). About 100 minutes into the 20-minute commute (I've mentioned Bonnie has a manual transmission, right?), I turned off on one of the last few streets to get to the Liv'in. The second to last street was blocked off. Finally, some flashing lights. Hmmm.... So I moved on and asked Bonnie to kindly find another route home. Which was also closed.
SIP: Back to you, Bonnie.
BBMW: Turn right here.
SIP: I can't. It's closed off.
BBMW: Okay, you need to make a u-turn.
SIP: I can't do that either.
BBMW: Okay, then, make a left and a left and a left.
SIP: That's the same thing as the u-turn that's blocked off.
BBMW: Okay, make a right up here.
SIP: Excellent. An alternate route.
BBMW: And another right, and a left, and a left.
SIP: Bonnie, we tried this before. Still blocked off.
There were several minutes (okay, more like an hour) of this. Every way we went was blocked. I was incredibly frustrated because I really didn't think I would be able to get home. I had these visions of an evening in the office on the yellow (beam!) couch on our floor. With no blanket or pillow (I could add, "with just a stack of workpapers to insulate me from the harsh elements," but I'm sure you've already added in that pathetic thought). Bonnie even tried a couple back streets but we continued to wind up at places where we were not allowed to turn.
I finally asked Bonnie to go to my new apartment, which is on the south side of the river and from which, based on my pedestrian experience the first weekend, should allow us to try some different approaches. We were on the way there and, even near the river, were diverted by the cops. I pointed Bonnie back to the Liv'in but she was seriously confused by this time. I told her I'd explain later and drove up a street that wasn't in her plan, hung a left by the Thai Massage place (by which time Bonnie was doing the GPS equivalent of the robot in "Lost in Space," flailing her arms saying, "Danger, Frau Preuscher, Danger!!"), and a right on the street with the upholstery shop and the weird bookstore, and another right onto the Liv'in's block.
I still don't know what the event was. Or even where it was. But if it had anything to do with Frau Dr. Merkel, I am sooooo removing myself as one of her fans on Facebook. (For now. I still love Angela, deep down in my capitalist heart.) About two hours ago I removed myself from the Frankfurt Polizei fans column as the three I actually stopped to talk to were unhelpful and unfriendly (though admittedly one was kinda cute).
But tomorrow's a new day. Bonnie and I will be quiet on the drive to work aside from my slamming door. But the sunrise or snowfall from my office window will remind me, once again, that every day in Eschborn is a beautiful one.
This could actually be a very short rant. At least in comparison to the event(s?) giving rise to said rant. It could be stated as simply as, "I left the office at around 7:14 PM and arrived at the Liv'in at 10:09 PM." That might begin to explain the title of today's blog, yet I feel it would deprive you of the color commentary (aka 'sarcasm') you have come to expect of this blog. So I will rant on. Not for my own catharsis, dear reader, but for you.
Despite having received snow earlier in the day, the road conditions were good as Bonnie and I were motoring our way back to the the city this evening. A terrific day in the office, more friends made, more German words learned, first day in my own office, more great Euro music on the radio -- and then full stop. Traffic backed up just as I was entering the city. Probably an accident, right? Nothing in sight, though, no sirens, no flashing lights, and still good road conditions. No, not even a big concert at the big festival hall area (where tickets to the P!nk concert in March are, alas, sold out). About 100 minutes into the 20-minute commute (I've mentioned Bonnie has a manual transmission, right?), I turned off on one of the last few streets to get to the Liv'in. The second to last street was blocked off. Finally, some flashing lights. Hmmm.... So I moved on and asked Bonnie to kindly find another route home. Which was also closed.
SIP: Back to you, Bonnie.
BBMW: Turn right here.
SIP: I can't. It's closed off.
BBMW: Okay, you need to make a u-turn.
SIP: I can't do that either.
BBMW: Okay, then, make a left and a left and a left.
SIP: That's the same thing as the u-turn that's blocked off.
BBMW: Okay, make a right up here.
SIP: Excellent. An alternate route.
BBMW: And another right, and a left, and a left.
SIP: Bonnie, we tried this before. Still blocked off.
There were several minutes (okay, more like an hour) of this. Every way we went was blocked. I was incredibly frustrated because I really didn't think I would be able to get home. I had these visions of an evening in the office on the yellow (beam!) couch on our floor. With no blanket or pillow (I could add, "with just a stack of workpapers to insulate me from the harsh elements," but I'm sure you've already added in that pathetic thought). Bonnie even tried a couple back streets but we continued to wind up at places where we were not allowed to turn.
I finally asked Bonnie to go to my new apartment, which is on the south side of the river and from which, based on my pedestrian experience the first weekend, should allow us to try some different approaches. We were on the way there and, even near the river, were diverted by the cops. I pointed Bonnie back to the Liv'in but she was seriously confused by this time. I told her I'd explain later and drove up a street that wasn't in her plan, hung a left by the Thai Massage place (by which time Bonnie was doing the GPS equivalent of the robot in "Lost in Space," flailing her arms saying, "Danger, Frau Preuscher, Danger!!"), and a right on the street with the upholstery shop and the weird bookstore, and another right onto the Liv'in's block.
I still don't know what the event was. Or even where it was. But if it had anything to do with Frau Dr. Merkel, I am sooooo removing myself as one of her fans on Facebook. (For now. I still love Angela, deep down in my capitalist heart.) About two hours ago I removed myself from the Frankfurt Polizei fans column as the three I actually stopped to talk to were unhelpful and unfriendly (though admittedly one was kinda cute).
But tomorrow's a new day. Bonnie and I will be quiet on the drive to work aside from my slamming door. But the sunrise or snowfall from my office window will remind me, once again, that every day in Eschborn is a beautiful one.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
11 January 2009 - Darmstadt
On Sunday, I could hold neither Bonnie nor myself back -- the open Autobahn beckoned. One of my Chicago colleagues gave me a book titled, "Daytrips in Germany's Rhineland: 25 one-day adventure from Frankfurt and other bases throughout all of Germany's Rhineland and beyond." Nutshell, good times awaited us. At the time, I was under the (mistaken) impression that I was only allowed 850 km per month on Bonnie, in which case I needed to conserve precious kilometers. (In reality, I'm allowed a whopping 3,000 kilometers per month, so keep an eye out for future road trips!) So I headed for Darmstadt, which is only 35 km (about 22 miles) south of Frankfurt via the A5 Autobahn. Now, 22 miles on a highway without a speed limit could go by in the blink of an eye.
Of course, that blink of an eye can also end with some other vehicle on your tail and breathing down your neck. Now, Bonnie only has a speedometer measured in kilometers, unlike Tori who had a preference for miles but also listed the kilometer scale in smaller font. So, being a typical metric-ignorant American (of the US Americans -- no offense intended for the Canadians who are North Americans and understand kilometers just fine), I settled in at what seemed a comfortable pace (considering Bonnie is wearing her snowshoes and all) of 170-180 km/hour. Use of a conversion tool indicates Bonnie was proceeding at a steady clip of about, oh, 105-110 mpg. Oh.... And some cars were blowing past us like we were standing still! I think I and my burgeoning German lead foot are going to like it here! (Bonnie is SUCH an enabler.) Alas, I may need to trade down to something like a Smart car upon return to the US that will limit my ability to engage said lead foot.
Time out for a random question. I am, so far, aware of both an A5 and and A3 Autobahn. Curiously, those are also Audi models. Coincidence or not? Not sure, but I found it interesting. I doubt there is a Q7 or a TT, so probably just coincidence, but Germans seem to have a reason for everything, so my curiosity remains.
Darmstadt is a lovely town of 140,000 according to the book. I found a place to park and wandered around with a bit of structure. I have posted photos on Facebook for those who are interested. High points were the palace that was home to the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt until the early 1900s, the beautiful (even in winter) Herrngarten park (which someone told me later is a place where there is a large drug issue, though I only saw families with their children on sleds on some of the small hills) and the Russian Chapel (built in 1899 by Czar Nicholas II for his Hessian bride). Another tourist item located next to the Chapel is the Mathildenhöhe, an artist colony established around the turn of the century which features the Hochzeitstrum (Wedding Tower) that is apparently an art nouveau symbol of the city, but which I did not find nearly so compelling as the Chapel or Herrngarten.
Perhaps one of the lasting visual memories I will retain of this first visit to Darmstadt (I plan on visiting the Herrngarten in the summer) was one witnessed on the walk back to my car. I heard loud club type music and stopped to see what was going on. There was some guy in a cap (yes, a cape) standing on the steps of some building. Okay.... No one, including the people in the Starbucks across the narrow street (seriously, Darmstadtans, read yesterdays blog -- your German coffee is sooooo much better), seemed to be listening to the guy. "We're walking..., we're walking..., and were stopping." Because in front of us were the three young people in some type of period costume who you see pictured in today's blog photo. What may be difficult (impossible?) to see from this photo is that each of them is holding a cup of Starbucks in the left hand and a bottle of some sort of bottle in the right hand that appears to resemble a champagne bottle. Hmmm.... I snapped the photo as surreptitiously as possible, and continued walking. I then happened upon a group of three guys in their 50s or so getting out of a car and donning hats that I can only describe as reminiscent of a rooster's comb in bright colors. Hmmmm.... And on the drive out of the city I also saw a procession of people in other bizarre costumes. No idea what was going on, but I have no doubt I missed some kind of interesting event. One of my colleagues is from near Darmstadt and was equally confused with what I described to her.
If all this awaits me fewer than 22 miles away, imagine what may be out in the hinterlands! Can't wait to explore some more!!
10 January 2009 - Market Day
Given that stores are generally not open as late in the evening (if at all in the evening) here as they generally are in the States and they're closed entirely on Sunday, Saturday is about the only day to shop here. So I got my heathen self out there this past Saturday and joined the festivities.
My first stop as at the Licht Centre, a lighting store that was recommended by a colleague here. I would describe it as something akin to Lightology in Chicago where I bought the funky Stuchu Moon light that was over my dining room table in Chicago, as well as the ceiling fans and the cool glass fixture in the foyer. Anyway, interesting gazing to be had. Fascinating Euro designs that I really like, though I don't particularly care for the prices, which generally started no lower than €350. I particularly enjoyed that they had a special section for gold-toned stuff and another for more traditional stuff, so I could focus on the rest without being distracted (you know, 'oooh, gold.... pretty....'). I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that there was only one ceiling fan in the entire store, but I was. I mean, if there's no A/C, shouldn't ceiling fans be even more popular here? Perhaps the breeze they cause is considered unhealthy?
The helpful colleague had also mentioned a store on Zeil (one of the main drags of shopping near my hotel, amongst which the Konstablerwache station is located, for those at-home players following on their Frankfurt maps) that would sell coffee/espresso machines. (I will expand upon coffee here in some other blog, but suffice it to say they take their coffee beverages seriously and it can be tasted. I have no idea how Starbucks survives here.) Anyway, I didn't find the store because I was so distracted by the veritable carnival that surrounded me. There was a guy with a miniature pony that was actually from a carnival. Then there was a guy playing accordion outside one of the stores. Women in all manner of colored hair. A store called Chicago. Dogs everywhere, including one who had a set of apparently homemade rain booties (though it wasn't raining) made out of clear plastic bags taped around his paws with fuschia tape (gotta wonder if dog paws need to breathe or if they just get smelly like human feet, but I digress...).
Oh yes -- and the open air market that I had spotted the previous week. This time, I waded on in. Generally what seems to be going on is there are a few produce stands and a few cheese stands, and quite a number of meat stands. The meat stands are then each generally connected to a purveyor of fine street meat, which one assumes (but I suppose isn't actually guaranteed) is from the meat stand next to it. Now, most of your reading this, realize that while I may enjoy a fermented beverage every now and again, I avoid eating the pig -- land-based, dirty sea pig or any other variety -- like the dirty bottomfeeder it is. So, being in a country where everything seems to be some version of pig is, um, challenging, particularly when one doesn't necessarily know all the words for all the meats that contain said porcine product. So there I was, surrounded by all manner of fresh, grilled or fried street meat bratwurst. I was delighted, then, to discover a meat stand from a farm/entity that appeared to specialize in lamb, which also had an attached street meat purveyor. I choose to believe the brat I got was a baa-brat, rather than lamb mixed with pig, so let me just believe that, okay? Cuz it was really, really good. To enjoy the experience (and because it really was quite cold to be standing around outside), I also bought the beverage of choice at the open air market -- hot apple wine. Now, apple wine is apparently a specialty product of Frankfurt. Maybe it's just the hot kind, but I'm thinking it's an acquired taste, and one I'm not particularly keen on developing. Thank goodness portions are relatively small here, as I think it would've been rude to leave the full glass at the street meat stand.
After this interesting episode, I got into the car and headed up near the office area to visit my first German mall. It's kind of fascinating in that the stores are accessible from an inner open-air (read, 'cold') courtyard area -- like an Oakbrook Center with less fancy stores, or California malls if California got cold. And IT WAS PACKED. You'd never know that Germany, like the US, is experiencing an economic downturn. It easily took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot, even though they have a big multi-level parking ramp. It was like how parking gets around the holidays. Nutty. And it took even longer to get out because we couldn't get to the exit easily because of all the cars backed up waiting to get in.
My target at this mall was Media Markt (www.mediamarkt.de), which seems to be a German version of Best Buy. My goal was to check out pricing on TVs, DVD players, stereo amps, washer/dryer dealios, microwaves, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, irons, blow dryers, espresso machines and the like, and they had it all. Suffice it to say there was a lot of sticker shock, but the biggest surprise was the espresso machines. Most 'good' ones (because you've got to at least have a milk frother) were at least €350 and I had to walk away and catch my breath when I saw one that came in at €2,200.00. Seriously???!!! I could drive to the office for free coffee on weekends for four years and still not spend that much. It was an interesting shopping experience, though, and I now have a better idea for what settling into my digs is going to set me back if I want to be surrounded by good technology.
I also stopped at the Mann Mobilia store, which I can see from our office. It appears to be an upscale version of Ikea and I love it. They have an excellent lighting department with things a bit more reasonably priced than the Licht Centre. Also lots of interesting things for the home. And I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at the price of glassware here. I saw a set of four glasses for €4.50 (for the set, not each) and small glass bowls that one could use either for food preparation or serving starting as low as €2.50. That seems value priced. I mean, you could buy nearly 900 of them for what some people would pay for an espresso machine, for example.
Anyway, good times to be had. Alas, the internet service was out at the hotel upon my return and has yet to return. I typed this at home and will attempt to upload it at the office so that those who are following this blog don't think I've dropped off the face of the earth!
My first stop as at the Licht Centre, a lighting store that was recommended by a colleague here. I would describe it as something akin to Lightology in Chicago where I bought the funky Stuchu Moon light that was over my dining room table in Chicago, as well as the ceiling fans and the cool glass fixture in the foyer. Anyway, interesting gazing to be had. Fascinating Euro designs that I really like, though I don't particularly care for the prices, which generally started no lower than €350. I particularly enjoyed that they had a special section for gold-toned stuff and another for more traditional stuff, so I could focus on the rest without being distracted (you know, 'oooh, gold.... pretty....'). I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that there was only one ceiling fan in the entire store, but I was. I mean, if there's no A/C, shouldn't ceiling fans be even more popular here? Perhaps the breeze they cause is considered unhealthy?
The helpful colleague had also mentioned a store on Zeil (one of the main drags of shopping near my hotel, amongst which the Konstablerwache station is located, for those at-home players following on their Frankfurt maps) that would sell coffee/espresso machines. (I will expand upon coffee here in some other blog, but suffice it to say they take their coffee beverages seriously and it can be tasted. I have no idea how Starbucks survives here.) Anyway, I didn't find the store because I was so distracted by the veritable carnival that surrounded me. There was a guy with a miniature pony that was actually from a carnival. Then there was a guy playing accordion outside one of the stores. Women in all manner of colored hair. A store called Chicago. Dogs everywhere, including one who had a set of apparently homemade rain booties (though it wasn't raining) made out of clear plastic bags taped around his paws with fuschia tape (gotta wonder if dog paws need to breathe or if they just get smelly like human feet, but I digress...).
Oh yes -- and the open air market that I had spotted the previous week. This time, I waded on in. Generally what seems to be going on is there are a few produce stands and a few cheese stands, and quite a number of meat stands. The meat stands are then each generally connected to a purveyor of fine street meat, which one assumes (but I suppose isn't actually guaranteed) is from the meat stand next to it. Now, most of your reading this, realize that while I may enjoy a fermented beverage every now and again, I avoid eating the pig -- land-based, dirty sea pig or any other variety -- like the dirty bottomfeeder it is. So, being in a country where everything seems to be some version of pig is, um, challenging, particularly when one doesn't necessarily know all the words for all the meats that contain said porcine product. So there I was, surrounded by all manner of fresh, grilled or fried street meat bratwurst. I was delighted, then, to discover a meat stand from a farm/entity that appeared to specialize in lamb, which also had an attached street meat purveyor. I choose to believe the brat I got was a baa-brat, rather than lamb mixed with pig, so let me just believe that, okay? Cuz it was really, really good. To enjoy the experience (and because it really was quite cold to be standing around outside), I also bought the beverage of choice at the open air market -- hot apple wine. Now, apple wine is apparently a specialty product of Frankfurt. Maybe it's just the hot kind, but I'm thinking it's an acquired taste, and one I'm not particularly keen on developing. Thank goodness portions are relatively small here, as I think it would've been rude to leave the full glass at the street meat stand.
After this interesting episode, I got into the car and headed up near the office area to visit my first German mall. It's kind of fascinating in that the stores are accessible from an inner open-air (read, 'cold') courtyard area -- like an Oakbrook Center with less fancy stores, or California malls if California got cold. And IT WAS PACKED. You'd never know that Germany, like the US, is experiencing an economic downturn. It easily took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot, even though they have a big multi-level parking ramp. It was like how parking gets around the holidays. Nutty. And it took even longer to get out because we couldn't get to the exit easily because of all the cars backed up waiting to get in.
My target at this mall was Media Markt (www.mediamarkt.de), which seems to be a German version of Best Buy. My goal was to check out pricing on TVs, DVD players, stereo amps, washer/dryer dealios, microwaves, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, irons, blow dryers, espresso machines and the like, and they had it all. Suffice it to say there was a lot of sticker shock, but the biggest surprise was the espresso machines. Most 'good' ones (because you've got to at least have a milk frother) were at least €350 and I had to walk away and catch my breath when I saw one that came in at €2,200.00. Seriously???!!! I could drive to the office for free coffee on weekends for four years and still not spend that much. It was an interesting shopping experience, though, and I now have a better idea for what settling into my digs is going to set me back if I want to be surrounded by good technology.
I also stopped at the Mann Mobilia store, which I can see from our office. It appears to be an upscale version of Ikea and I love it. They have an excellent lighting department with things a bit more reasonably priced than the Licht Centre. Also lots of interesting things for the home. And I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at the price of glassware here. I saw a set of four glasses for €4.50 (for the set, not each) and small glass bowls that one could use either for food preparation or serving starting as low as €2.50. That seems value priced. I mean, you could buy nearly 900 of them for what some people would pay for an espresso machine, for example.
Anyway, good times to be had. Alas, the internet service was out at the hotel upon my return and has yet to return. I typed this at home and will attempt to upload it at the office so that those who are following this blog don't think I've dropped off the face of the earth!
Friday, January 9, 2009
9 January 2009 - One workweek complete already!
The sun seems to be in hiding over here as it is dark when I am driving both to and from work. But this BlackBerry photo is the beautiful view that greeted me when I walked into my office this morning -- the sun rising and spreading its warmth and pinkish-orange hues with the skyline of the city and the trails of jets in the sky overhead. Much more pretty in person. But then again, every morning I'm alive is beautiful to me. Maybe they're just even more beautiful in Germany.I have now finished my first workweek here. I think I'm going to like it. (And that's not just because three of these five days we've lunched at the Italian restaurant in the office park and where the older Italian waiter teases and unabashedly flirts with me. Love it!) I really like my colleagues at the office who have been so welcoming and patient with my nascent German skills. I was concerned after the cultural sensitivity training that I would have to keep my personality a bit under wraps, but they have made me feel welcome just as I am, with my odd expressions, stories of my naive experiences here, and incessant questions.
Today my new boss, Stefan, took the train down to Frankfurt from Dusseldorf to meet with me, talk about the practice, our challenges, and the best places I may be able to contribute. How many bosses would make that trip instead of asking me to show up there, especially on a Friday? Near the beginning of the meeting, he said that while he didn't know me very well, based on what he'd seen of me in our previous meeting, how I had interacted with his team on an engagement last year, and what his people had reported back (ruh roh?), he likes me and believes in my contributions. There was just something about the way he said it that makes me even more intent than I may have been before on making sure his faith in me is not ill-placed. I think I will learn a lot from him on leadership. Always helps to like the people you work with, right?
Meanwhile, I have received my firm-issued BlackBerry. Alas, it is the 8800 model, so no camera, but get this -- the firm pays for the device, allows me to use it for personal use (domestically, don't get any ideas of me making unlimited cell calls to the US!) for only EUR 5/month, AND (oh yes, there's more) it, my eFax, and office phone all share the same five digit extension!! Way cool. But I'll miss being able to take photos wherever I am.
I also got a FedEx with my desk files from the US today. I had had a Mark Shale bag in the office the day that I packed and recalled the re-use of bags in Europe and had thrown that in the box. Imagine my amusement at shopping for groceries (yes, the same grocery store from a few nights ago) with a Mark Shale bag. Bringin' a little bit of home with me. If only I could pick up some value-priced, high-quality attire here whenever I have the bag!
Bonnie and I continue to bond. Yesterday was the first time I made it to work and back without a wrong turn. Today I was confident enough with knowing the route that I played around with the iDrive while I drove instead of being glued to the navigation screens. I also figured out how to change the language to English and hated it so much that I switched it back within about a minute. It was like Bonnie was possessed and it was wrong. Unlike Drescher, Bonnie didn't hold it against me. I think I may engage in the German past-time of a Saturday car wash for her tomorrow. She deserves it.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
7 January 2009 - Frantic for Fran
There are, admittedly, a lot of terrific women in my life. But the one I may have missed most today is Fran. That's the name I gave to the voice of the woman on EY/Comm voice mail. (Yes, I have a habit of naming inanimate objects ranging from cars to BlackBerrys to briefcases to musical instruments. Mental issue noted.) Fran's wonderful. She is relevant, always available, organized, responsive, recognizes the simple beauty of the # key, and is kind enough to allow me to force her to give abbreviated prompts when I'm checking voice mail. You can experience the joy by calling my former office number and listening to her eagerly take your message or offer to transfer you to another extension. Magical.
So what's made me so sentimental about Fran today? The experience of trying to set up my voice mail at the office here. Now, most voice mail systems I've used are relatively straightforward with simple set-up instructions and a handy reference card that tells you, for example, the numbers or shortcuts for playing, deleting, forwarding and responding to messages. I had no doubt that this one would be no different. I, um, was mistaken.
I successfully located three pages in the German IT User Guide that was provided to me along with my laptop. How difficult could it be to follow, right? The first section had to be setup, the next for changing your spoken name or outgoing message, and then maybe a section for listening to voice mail. Well, I dialed the 5-digit extension listed in the booklet and German Fran (would it be rude to name her Drescher?) picked up and proceeded to talk at me for at least thirty seconds. No pause. No apparent prompts to enter passwords or such. I hung up on her and, based on her surly responses when I called back (with my assistant Sanja at hand to translate), she didn't take the rejection well. She repeated her diatribe, asked for a password, then asked for the mailbox number (shouldn't that come before one assigns a password to it??), and then the password again, provided a whole lot of instructions for recording my spoken name and then insisted that I record my outgoing message. At this point I asked Sanja whether there was a pre-recorded greeting (you know, in German, so I could mask my ignorance) that I could use.
No.
Really?
No.
Hmm - okay, which number do I tell callers to dial so that they can select a different extension if I'm not available? Like, "If you need immediate assistance, dial '0' and ask for my assistant Sanja at extension XXXXX."
There is no other number. If they don't want to leave a message with you they just have to call back.
Fran!!!!!!
I hung up on Drescher about this time; she was still talking and the pressure of developing a brand new outgoing message on the fly was too much for me. Not surprisingly, Sanja was looking at me like I was a little crazy, but was successfully resisting the urge to tell me so. I calmed myself, thought of a new message, and dialed back in. Drescher was, if possible, even less enthusiastic that time. She seemed to have forgotten she knew me and had me re-enter a new password and my spoken name. I finally had the new outgoing message in there and called it quits. I fear the day when someone leaves a message as I still have no idea how to retrieve them. But I suppose I should rest easy that Drescher will be hard at work chattering away at callers so perhaps they'll be dissuaded from leaving a message, too. I can hope, right? But I suspect such hope will be as misguided as my hope that we will be buying Cisco IP phones anytime soon.
Fran, wherever you are, know that you are appreciated.
So what's made me so sentimental about Fran today? The experience of trying to set up my voice mail at the office here. Now, most voice mail systems I've used are relatively straightforward with simple set-up instructions and a handy reference card that tells you, for example, the numbers or shortcuts for playing, deleting, forwarding and responding to messages. I had no doubt that this one would be no different. I, um, was mistaken.
I successfully located three pages in the German IT User Guide that was provided to me along with my laptop. How difficult could it be to follow, right? The first section had to be setup, the next for changing your spoken name or outgoing message, and then maybe a section for listening to voice mail. Well, I dialed the 5-digit extension listed in the booklet and German Fran (would it be rude to name her Drescher?) picked up and proceeded to talk at me for at least thirty seconds. No pause. No apparent prompts to enter passwords or such. I hung up on her and, based on her surly responses when I called back (with my assistant Sanja at hand to translate), she didn't take the rejection well. She repeated her diatribe, asked for a password, then asked for the mailbox number (shouldn't that come before one assigns a password to it??), and then the password again, provided a whole lot of instructions for recording my spoken name and then insisted that I record my outgoing message. At this point I asked Sanja whether there was a pre-recorded greeting (you know, in German, so I could mask my ignorance) that I could use.
No.
Really?
No.
Hmm - okay, which number do I tell callers to dial so that they can select a different extension if I'm not available? Like, "If you need immediate assistance, dial '0' and ask for my assistant Sanja at extension XXXXX."
There is no other number. If they don't want to leave a message with you they just have to call back.
Fran!!!!!!
I hung up on Drescher about this time; she was still talking and the pressure of developing a brand new outgoing message on the fly was too much for me. Not surprisingly, Sanja was looking at me like I was a little crazy, but was successfully resisting the urge to tell me so. I calmed myself, thought of a new message, and dialed back in. Drescher was, if possible, even less enthusiastic that time. She seemed to have forgotten she knew me and had me re-enter a new password and my spoken name. I finally had the new outgoing message in there and called it quits. I fear the day when someone leaves a message as I still have no idea how to retrieve them. But I suppose I should rest easy that Drescher will be hard at work chattering away at callers so perhaps they'll be dissuaded from leaving a message, too. I can hope, right? But I suspect such hope will be as misguided as my hope that we will be buying Cisco IP phones anytime soon.
Fran, wherever you are, know that you are appreciated.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
6 January 2009 - 'murcans!
While I am indeed trying to "get my German on," nothing could have pleased me more than getting in touch with some of the other American ('murcan) expatriates here. There are actually three partners from the Chicago office here and I they were kind enough to have lunch with me today and share with me some of their lessons learned. For example, where to get money for one's recyclables, the best Mexican restaurant near my new apartment, and that I may have difficulty finding herbs and spices like cilantro and coriander. Say it ain't so! Really nice to meet them and I fully intend to tap their knowledge going forward.That handsome vehicle (who knew I'd ever say that about a BMW?) in the slightly-fuzzy BlackBerry photo is Bonnie. We had a (slightly) more direct route this morning than last night, but ran into some severe traffic, during which her low fuel alarm sounded. Uhhh....? Apparently the BMW dude dropped her off with less than 1/4 of a tank of gas. Nice!
So, recalling from yesterday's posting that I have no food at home, I wanted to leave somewhat early so I could get home before the grocery store closed. Of course, I found myself really pressed for time when I left and was balancing my needs for food for me versus food for Bonnie. Hmmm.... Fortunately, Bonnie and I still are working out our disagreements through the navigation system and I stumbled upon a true supermarket on one of the scenic side trips. So many fascinating things there that I hope to try going forward (or at least to translate the labels and figure out what they are). After that, Bonnie continued to try and direct me to the highway, but I saw the unmistakable glow of a yellow sign in the distance. No, not McDonald's. A Shell station! Wahoo!!
There was no pay-at-the-pump station, so I went inside to prepay. The attendant looked at me really funny and asked where I was from. Turns out, they actually trust their customers and you pay AFTER you pump. Nutty! So I went back to the car to fill 'er up with diesel. Fuel door didn't open like my former A4 (I so hate to say that), so I played the ever-popular game, "If I were a fuel door button, where would I be?" No, not inside the driver's side door. Not to the left of the footwell (though I now know how to open the hood). Not in the glove box. Not in the trunk. Hmmm.... No worries -- I have an owner's manual. Hmmm... Anyone know how to say gas, fuel or petrol in German? Alas, not I? The attendant is, of course, watching me with amusement through the window. Dumb 'murcan on display. Delightful. Back at the fuel door, I pushed again on the right side. Still nothing. But the left side made it pop right open. Grrrr..... And that was my attitude BEFORE I had to pay for the fuel -- a whopping EUR 58,02. And diesel was the cheapest option available (EUR 1,079/liter). Hurt me!
Monday, January 5, 2009
5 January 2009 - Becoming a worker
Today was my first day of work, and what a day it was. I woke to a blanket of snow outside with more falling. Where did that come from? Really beautiful, but based on the snow removal efforts (or lack thereof) on streets and sidewalks, I'm thinking they don't get very much snow here. Or perhaps they're just not worried about people slipping and falling on sidewalks and suing the owner of the property as would be the case in the U.S. In any event, I love snow so I took it as a good omen.
A woman from the relocation company came by this morning, picked up my passport and some unsmiling photos of me we'd had taken during my apartment-hunting trip, and took them to obtain my official work permit. (The absence of a smile in the photos was a requirement, incidentally. It strikes me somewhat as being in keeping with the stern stereotype we may have of Germans, yet at the same time, it makes sense. I mean, most of us are probably walking around with really wretched passport photos. If we're honest, we probably look kind of like that after a long, sleepless night on an international flight when we show up to present our passports at immigration of whatever country might be willing to receive us. Similarly, if there's a migrant worker raid at the firm (I'm kidding!!), I'm guessing I wouldn't be smiling. So perhaps it's easier for the authorities to compare bad/unsmiling photos from the start?) Anyway, I was finally work-legal by noon and headed out to the office on the S-Bahn. We can ignore for now that I went to the Eschborn station and had to backtrack to the Eschborn-Süd station.
I arrived at the office in time to set my stuff down and head to lunch with Per (the other FIDS "partner" -- for lack of a better term since I'm not sure what I'm supposed to call myself over here) and a few others. While at lunch, our executive assistant, Sanja, got a call saying that my rental car had arrived and "the guy" was waiting in the lobby of the office for me to sign the paperwork and present my driver's license. Uhhh.... I had indeed requested the rental car, but hadn't received an official confirmation, so this was a bit of a surprise for me. So she and I went back to the office, I signed the paperwork, and the guy that had driven the car there from BMW asked if I could drop him off at the train station (that'd be Eschborn-Süd, for those who are following this). Recall that it's still snowing, the roads are slushy, I have no idea where I am, I've just signed some sort of contract in German, and this is a brand new BMW 3-series (well, she had 410 km on her). "Okay." So off we went.
This was part of the first few minutes of the most efficiency I have ever witnessed at the firm. Within 30 minutes, I signed for the car, drove the BMW dude to the train station, learned how to park in the (free!!!) underground EY garage, received a new (albeit gigantaur) laptop and a SecurID, was issued a security badge, got confirmation that my BlackBerry (alas, an 8800) is on order, and was back at my desk with a cup of espresso made from freshly ground beans in the office's cool coffee machines. The rest of the day paled by comparison as I tried to figure out how to type on the German keyboard layout with the Z and Y reversed and many other keys "out of place" as compared to the US QWERTY keyboard. All in good time, I suppose.
Bonnie (the 318d, who is a moody charcoal gray and comes complete with aggressive looking winter tires) and I waited until most of the traffic had died down before we attempted our trek back into the city. I was able to program in the address on the navigation system, but the trip was nevertheless challenging, mostly due to Bonnie's insistence on addressing me in German, my inability to estimate distances in meters, and the myriad one-way streets in Frankfurt. I'm pretty sure she was swearing me after about five missed turns. We did finally make it, though, and she's now tucked in down in the garage under the Liv'in. Alas, the grocery store was already closed. :-( But I think that was enough for a first day!
A woman from the relocation company came by this morning, picked up my passport and some unsmiling photos of me we'd had taken during my apartment-hunting trip, and took them to obtain my official work permit. (The absence of a smile in the photos was a requirement, incidentally. It strikes me somewhat as being in keeping with the stern stereotype we may have of Germans, yet at the same time, it makes sense. I mean, most of us are probably walking around with really wretched passport photos. If we're honest, we probably look kind of like that after a long, sleepless night on an international flight when we show up to present our passports at immigration of whatever country might be willing to receive us. Similarly, if there's a migrant worker raid at the firm (I'm kidding!!), I'm guessing I wouldn't be smiling. So perhaps it's easier for the authorities to compare bad/unsmiling photos from the start?) Anyway, I was finally work-legal by noon and headed out to the office on the S-Bahn. We can ignore for now that I went to the Eschborn station and had to backtrack to the Eschborn-Süd station.
I arrived at the office in time to set my stuff down and head to lunch with Per (the other FIDS "partner" -- for lack of a better term since I'm not sure what I'm supposed to call myself over here) and a few others. While at lunch, our executive assistant, Sanja, got a call saying that my rental car had arrived and "the guy" was waiting in the lobby of the office for me to sign the paperwork and present my driver's license. Uhhh.... I had indeed requested the rental car, but hadn't received an official confirmation, so this was a bit of a surprise for me. So she and I went back to the office, I signed the paperwork, and the guy that had driven the car there from BMW asked if I could drop him off at the train station (that'd be Eschborn-Süd, for those who are following this). Recall that it's still snowing, the roads are slushy, I have no idea where I am, I've just signed some sort of contract in German, and this is a brand new BMW 3-series (well, she had 410 km on her). "Okay." So off we went.
This was part of the first few minutes of the most efficiency I have ever witnessed at the firm. Within 30 minutes, I signed for the car, drove the BMW dude to the train station, learned how to park in the (free!!!) underground EY garage, received a new (albeit gigantaur) laptop and a SecurID, was issued a security badge, got confirmation that my BlackBerry (alas, an 8800) is on order, and was back at my desk with a cup of espresso made from freshly ground beans in the office's cool coffee machines. The rest of the day paled by comparison as I tried to figure out how to type on the German keyboard layout with the Z and Y reversed and many other keys "out of place" as compared to the US QWERTY keyboard. All in good time, I suppose.
Bonnie (the 318d, who is a moody charcoal gray and comes complete with aggressive looking winter tires) and I waited until most of the traffic had died down before we attempted our trek back into the city. I was able to program in the address on the navigation system, but the trip was nevertheless challenging, mostly due to Bonnie's insistence on addressing me in German, my inability to estimate distances in meters, and the myriad one-way streets in Frankfurt. I'm pretty sure she was swearing me after about five missed turns. We did finally make it, though, and she's now tucked in down in the garage under the Liv'in. Alas, the grocery store was already closed. :-( But I think that was enough for a first day!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
3-4 January 2009 - Settling into my temporary 'hood
My apartment is not available until February, so I am staying at the Liv'in Hotel & Residence until that time. Think of a Euro-style extended stay suite hotel, including a small kitchen. It's nothing special from the outside but it's fine inside. (Photos are posted on Facebook.) The place also has a restaurant where a complimentary breakfast is served, however it's closed for the holidays until next Monday. In the interim, breakfast is served at their sister hotel, the Fleming Hotel which is about a 5 minute walk away. Makes for a brisk wake-up as I discovered this morning, but worth the walk to get some good bread, cold cuts, interesting yogurt, excellent coffee, and of course an Actimel chaser.
The hotel also includes free WiFi, which I have been using a great deal. I configured Skype yesterday (my user name is "spriser" for those of you who are on Skype) and it seems to work pretty well. I also discovered this morning to my delight that XM Radio Online works abroad so I can get my POTUS and 20 on 20 fixes. I suspect I may also be using the WiFi to download a lot of podcasts ("Meet the Press," "Washington Week," "Face the Nation," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," et cetera) and perhaps some video content as well (think episodes of "The Colbert Report" and "Law & Order").
The need for the video content was underscored last night as I was channel surfing. I was checking out what appears to be the German version of TV Guide and saw that the movie "Sideways" was going to be on at 8:15. Sweet! Waited on pins and needles, only to discover that it with German voiceovers. Doh! So I ended up watching an episode of "Hallo, Robbie," which appears to be a German version of Lassie, except Lassie/Robbie is a sea lion. I'm not joking. Robbie rocks, though -- not only did he rescue a paratrooper who fell into the sea, but when his master was captured by evildoers on a boat, Robbie swam after him and saved the day. With such compelling programming (and the only German language programming I could kind of follow), I set the WiFi to work overnight downloading "Baby Mama" from iTunes for the low rental cost of $3.99, which is my Sunday night viewing treat. Oh, the excitement.
I finished unpacking today, discovering that the bottle of Febreeze I had packed but was to large to fit in a Ziploc had somehow (Murphy's Law?) come open. Note that there are no laundry facilities in the building, so I will be smelling particularly "fresh" this week. There is also no iron/ironing board in my suite, so I may be a bit rumpled-looking as well unless I can figure out some steaming action in the bathroom.
I took a long walk today to get to know my temporary 'hood and also walked all the way to where my new apartment is to get an idea of that neighborhood as well. Nice walk, but a bit on the chilly side. And they weren't joking when they said that all the shops are closed on Sunday. Not that I doubted, but good thing I got a few groceries yesterday.
Finally, I have unpacked my purse, removing all U.S. currency and other treasures (e.g. Starbucks card, MTA and CTA cards, a fully-stamped Venice Cafe card (doh!), and some gift cards). Kind of sad. But I thought of an interesting (to a geek like me, anyway) exercise. I have a grand total of $150.06 in U.S. currency (including a Sacajawea and a silver dollar, both of which are valued at their face value, even though the silver dollar is worth more). I'm going to see how the value holds up during the four years I'm here. The current value according to Oanda.com is a whopping EUR 107,84. Each time I head back to the U.S., I'm going to take stock of its value and gain/loss of Euro purchasing power. Just because.
The hotel also includes free WiFi, which I have been using a great deal. I configured Skype yesterday (my user name is "spriser" for those of you who are on Skype) and it seems to work pretty well. I also discovered this morning to my delight that XM Radio Online works abroad so I can get my POTUS and 20 on 20 fixes. I suspect I may also be using the WiFi to download a lot of podcasts ("Meet the Press," "Washington Week," "Face the Nation," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," et cetera) and perhaps some video content as well (think episodes of "The Colbert Report" and "Law & Order").
The need for the video content was underscored last night as I was channel surfing. I was checking out what appears to be the German version of TV Guide and saw that the movie "Sideways" was going to be on at 8:15. Sweet! Waited on pins and needles, only to discover that it with German voiceovers. Doh! So I ended up watching an episode of "Hallo, Robbie," which appears to be a German version of Lassie, except Lassie/Robbie is a sea lion. I'm not joking. Robbie rocks, though -- not only did he rescue a paratrooper who fell into the sea, but when his master was captured by evildoers on a boat, Robbie swam after him and saved the day. With such compelling programming (and the only German language programming I could kind of follow), I set the WiFi to work overnight downloading "Baby Mama" from iTunes for the low rental cost of $3.99, which is my Sunday night viewing treat. Oh, the excitement.
I finished unpacking today, discovering that the bottle of Febreeze I had packed but was to large to fit in a Ziploc had somehow (Murphy's Law?) come open. Note that there are no laundry facilities in the building, so I will be smelling particularly "fresh" this week. There is also no iron/ironing board in my suite, so I may be a bit rumpled-looking as well unless I can figure out some steaming action in the bathroom.
I took a long walk today to get to know my temporary 'hood and also walked all the way to where my new apartment is to get an idea of that neighborhood as well. Nice walk, but a bit on the chilly side. And they weren't joking when they said that all the shops are closed on Sunday. Not that I doubted, but good thing I got a few groceries yesterday.
Finally, I have unpacked my purse, removing all U.S. currency and other treasures (e.g. Starbucks card, MTA and CTA cards, a fully-stamped Venice Cafe card (doh!), and some gift cards). Kind of sad. But I thought of an interesting (to a geek like me, anyway) exercise. I have a grand total of $150.06 in U.S. currency (including a Sacajawea and a silver dollar, both of which are valued at their face value, even though the silver dollar is worth more). I'm going to see how the value holds up during the four years I'm here. The current value according to Oanda.com is a whopping EUR 107,84. Each time I head back to the U.S., I'm going to take stock of its value and gain/loss of Euro purchasing power. Just because.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
2 January 2009 - The beginning
Today marks the beginning of my four-year secondment in Frankfurt, Germany. I thought it may be interesting to blog about my experiences along the way for my own education and to share those experiences with my friends and family who aren't here in person to share them with me. I have no doubt that I will look back at some of these entries with a mixture of amusement and horror at my ignorance, but that's what learning is all about, right?
The flight to Frankfurt on American Airlines was relatively uneventful, though the boarding process was a bit interesting. As we were standing in the gate area, an announcement asked me to report to the desk. Uhhh....? We were flying on a 767 with a two-class configuration (business and coach) so it wasn't as if they were going to give me an upgrade. Instead, there was a woman named Sue there from American's "Concierge Services" (who knew there was such a thing?) who wanted to welcome me aboard and thank me for my business. Apparently she didn't get the memo that I lost lost my Executive Platinum status in 2008 because, ironically, of a few flights to Europe on Lufthansa. She asked if I'd like to pre-board and walked me over to the gate area, past the TSA contingent, and we stood there a few minutes just chatting while they opened the doors. I felt conspicuous and a bit like a playuh that I was getting the white glove treatment.
Anyway, they opened the doors and I and three other people boarded. And then they stopped, which I didn't notice as I had already given my coat to the flight attendant and was getting settled. Then the flight attendant came back with my coat saying we were going to be using a different aircraft and we needed to get off. Okay.... And then she took my coat again and said that we were just going to move our aircraft to a different gate. Okay.... The other three passengers were just as confused as I was. So we sat there for about 45 minutes in the nearly-empty plane as the flight attendants poured champagne or whatever it is that flight attendants do during boarding. I made it nearly through the New York Times. Meanwhile, the other angry sheep passengers could be viewed through the window in the gate area milling about and looking more angry and confused by the minute. Finally the captain made an announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves. We're gonna move." This was met with a lot of laughter from all of us and we slowly backed out of our gate and into a different one (K12 and K16, for those who know and love ORD terminal 3). And then the truly angry sheep boarded, while I sat there working on my second little glass of champagne. (Surely there must be an appropriate rap or other "playuh" song that would be appropriate if this scene were to be added to the SIP Soundtrack, Volume III.)
So that's how the trip began. I was delighted that all my luggage arrived on the flight with me, as this seems like a perfect place for Murphy's Law to intervene and take my prized possessions and hold them hostage in some dank baggage warehouse. The extended stay hotel is nice enough and I will likely be posting some photos to Facebook tomorrow. I did manage to find some time to wander around the neighborhood around the hotel, found a grocery store (a "super" market it is not), and even stumbled across an open air market with produce, tasty-looking cheese, and some scary meat. Perhaps next week I'll be brave enough to buy something at the open-air market!
SIP
P.S. In case you're wondering why the blog is titled Preuscher, that is, I believe, the original spelling of Priser. It seemed appropriate as I "get my German on."
The flight to Frankfurt on American Airlines was relatively uneventful, though the boarding process was a bit interesting. As we were standing in the gate area, an announcement asked me to report to the desk. Uhhh....? We were flying on a 767 with a two-class configuration (business and coach) so it wasn't as if they were going to give me an upgrade. Instead, there was a woman named Sue there from American's "Concierge Services" (who knew there was such a thing?) who wanted to welcome me aboard and thank me for my business. Apparently she didn't get the memo that I lost lost my Executive Platinum status in 2008 because, ironically, of a few flights to Europe on Lufthansa. She asked if I'd like to pre-board and walked me over to the gate area, past the TSA contingent, and we stood there a few minutes just chatting while they opened the doors. I felt conspicuous and a bit like a playuh that I was getting the white glove treatment.
Anyway, they opened the doors and I and three other people boarded. And then they stopped, which I didn't notice as I had already given my coat to the flight attendant and was getting settled. Then the flight attendant came back with my coat saying we were going to be using a different aircraft and we needed to get off. Okay.... And then she took my coat again and said that we were just going to move our aircraft to a different gate. Okay.... The other three passengers were just as confused as I was. So we sat there for about 45 minutes in the nearly-empty plane as the flight attendants poured champagne or whatever it is that flight attendants do during boarding. I made it nearly through the New York Times. Meanwhile, the other angry sheep passengers could be viewed through the window in the gate area milling about and looking more angry and confused by the minute. Finally the captain made an announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves. We're gonna move." This was met with a lot of laughter from all of us and we slowly backed out of our gate and into a different one (K12 and K16, for those who know and love ORD terminal 3). And then the truly angry sheep boarded, while I sat there working on my second little glass of champagne. (Surely there must be an appropriate rap or other "playuh" song that would be appropriate if this scene were to be added to the SIP Soundtrack, Volume III.)
So that's how the trip began. I was delighted that all my luggage arrived on the flight with me, as this seems like a perfect place for Murphy's Law to intervene and take my prized possessions and hold them hostage in some dank baggage warehouse. The extended stay hotel is nice enough and I will likely be posting some photos to Facebook tomorrow. I did manage to find some time to wander around the neighborhood around the hotel, found a grocery store (a "super" market it is not), and even stumbled across an open air market with produce, tasty-looking cheese, and some scary meat. Perhaps next week I'll be brave enough to buy something at the open-air market!
SIP
P.S. In case you're wondering why the blog is titled Preuscher, that is, I believe, the original spelling of Priser. It seemed appropriate as I "get my German on."
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