...has finally moved into his new place.

On Sunday, I moved my two suitcases and three plastic bags of food, with the help of Thorsten, to my new place. It's on the fourth floor of the building (which doesn't have a lift), and I bought the kitchen (350EUR) and bed (300EUR) from the previous tenant so that I'd have something there.

It's a good thing I bought that bed. Since moving in, my evenings have been taken up with (Mon) entertaining a visiting prof, (Tues) our work Christmas party, (Wed) a trip to Ikea, (Thurs) my German lessons and another trip to a furniture store. It's Friday, I'm tired, and I just want something to hang my clothes on. And so I think I'll take another trip to Ikea and buy some things for that.

The location is awesome. Across the road from my building is a little bakery, and I'm 5 min from two bus lines that run to the university. It's about an 8 min walk to the nearest laundromat and 10-15 min to the heart of the city, although you can be on one of the main streets in about 7 min.

My current nickname for this place is my "Fortress of Solitude." Not, of course, because I have any ego about myself, but rather that it is a place that I'm quite fond of where I go to relax.

...was there when the Christmas Market Opened

I didn't really mean to be. I had volleyball (pickup) at the SportCentrum at 19Uhr. Franz had invited me earlier to see the ceremony because his elder son is part of the Domspatzen, one of the oldest choirs in Germany, and they were singing. But the show started at 6 and they said it would only take half an hour, leaving me another half hour to run back to the Uni, grab my stuff, and make it to vball.

I have to say that I was really impressed with that choir. I'm don't think I normally appreciate choral music (is that the right word?) but there were so many layers of harmony that it was very smooth. Well worth it. And as for the Market? I had heard it was over commercialized and not really worth it. I think it was fun, but I get a kick out of seeing these traditional things. And I like the Christmas season.

Tomorrow I get the keys to my new apartment. I'm so excited to be moving out of suburbia and into the real world. Some things about my current place that I like: I didn't have to set up internet, it's very quiet at night, and the bakeries nearby are good. Some things I didn't like: the walk to the university. The walk to town (goodbye, 4.5km hike while I'm drunk!). The 4EUR charge for laundry. The nearby supermarket -- with the shittiest hours possible and a selection that would rival a Canadian convenience store. The fact that it's in a half-basement (don't you hate making promises to yourself -- like, I'll never live in a basement apartment again -- and then having to reneg?). Okay, rant is over. Will post pics of the new apt soonish. Although I already have one sweet idea for something to hang on my wall -- it's a whiteboard on one side and a poster of some art on the other. This is something that should be sold somewhere.

...missed last week's blog post.

...because I was too drunk on Sunday. Remember, you don't need to drink to have fun. This was purely accidental on Saturday night because one thing just lead to another. I decided to try a bock beer for a party I was going to and then after the party we were going out for a drink and then friends invited me to a bar which turned into a private party...

We work hard but we party harder. Yes, those girls ARE doing the macarena. And that's me in the funniest clean-room outfit ever. It's got ear holes. (or is that normal?)

...didn't see Frankenstein

A few weeks ago I met a girl from Regensburg who's taking part in a play in Ingolstadt. Every Saturday she and her friend head over there for a few hours rehearsal. Ingolstadt had been recommended to me (BMD) and this was a good excuse to pop over. Bavaria has one-day Bayern tickets for 28€ that allow unlimited travel for up to five people, and so it was free for me (the theatre pays for the ticket).

I was too early for the Christmas market that takes place from next week on but the regular market, as shown, was hopping. Nearby were the beer stands. Ingolstadt has its own brew and they make an okay Weiß and Dunkel Weiß biers. As far as I can tell, the routine is to drive to the market with your husband, park the car, leave him near the beer stands, and go shopping.

The old town is all I wanted to see and it was small enough to walk through. Unfortunately the castle is only accessible via the Armory museum which is closed on Saturdays (?). But I managed to get some pictures around town and it was well worth a few hours visit.

"...can I say it tastes torch-y?"

"I think you mean smoky."

Two fun work-related non-academic things occured this week. The first was that I got my card for the Sportzentrum (Sports Centre). €20 gets you the card which, as far as I could tell, lets you access the swimming pool. For another €18 you get access to the indoor climbing wall, and there are other fees for using other parts of the gym including the pick-up rec games, the weight room, and the sauna. I paid €40 for the all-inclusive, and so far it's been fun with Thursday pick-up volleyball and Friday going climbing.

After climbing on Friday, some of us headed back to the lab for a cocktail party. I was really looking forward to a martini but cocktail referred to those fruity sweet cocktails, and after a few hours of those I had to turn back to beer. There were enough people to make it fun (although I'm not sure Franz was having a great time) and I got to meet the wives of Franz and Jasha as well as various girlfriends.

After most of the crowd had left, there was Anja (the mechanic), Toby (a PhD student of Jasha's), Flo (one of our Diploma students) and I sharing the last beers. They ran out and it was clear we were going to head off but I felt there was enough time to grab the bottle of Lagavulin from my office for one final drink. Toby suggested this might be akin to "pouring pearls on pigs" but I disagreed and (as per usual) still think I was right. Tobias was chatting to his girl and Anja was off while Flo and I were enjoying our glasses:

Flo: It has that...can I say it tastes torch-y?

Me: I think you mean smoky. Yah, it's pretty good.

Flo: It tastes like one from that Isla...

Me: Islay? Yah, it's an Islay.

Flo: Yes, it tastes similar to my favourite. Laphroaig. Have you ever had the quarter-cask strength?

Clearly we weren't pouring Lagavulin on pigs. Flo then suggested that next time we should enjoy some of the Laphroaig and Toby said he should have some people over to enjoy his favourite Gin sometime. It was a pretty sweet end to the night.

"...can I say it tastes torch-y?"

"I think you mean smoky."

Two fun work-related non-academic things occured this week. The first was that I got my card for the Sportzentrum (Sports Centre). €20 gets you the card which, as far as I could tell, lets you access the swimming pool. For another €18 you get access to the indoor climbing wall, and there are other fees for using other parts of the gym including the pick-up rec games, the weight room, and the sauna. I paid €40 for the all-inclusive, and so far it's been fun with Thursday pick-up volleyball and Friday going climbing.

After climbing on Friday, some of us headed back to the lab for a cocktail party. I was really looking forward to a martini but cocktail referred to those fruity sweet cocktails, and after a few hours of those I had to turn back to beer. There were enough people to make it fun (although I'm not sure Franz was having a great time) and I got to meet the wives of Franz and Jasha as well as various girlfriends.

After most of the crowd had left, there was Anja (the mechanic), Toby (a PhD student of Jasha's), Flo (one of our Diploma students) and I sharing the last beers. They ran out and it was clear we were going to head off but I felt there was enough time to grab the bottle of Lagavulin from my office for one final drink. Toby suggested this might be akin to "pouring pearls on pigs" but I disagreed and (as per usual) still think I was right. Tobias was chatting to his girl and Anja was off while Flo and I were enjoying our glasses:

Flo: It has that...can I say it tastes torch-y?

Me: I think you mean smoky. Yah, it's pretty good.

Flo: It tastes like one from that Isla...

Me: Islay? Yah, it's an Islay.

Flo: Yes, it tastes similar to my favourite. Laphroaig. Have you ever had the quarter-cask strength?

Clearly we weren't pouring Lagavulin on pigs. Flo then suggested that next time we should enjoy some of the Laphroaig and Toby said he should have some people over to enjoy his favourite Gin sometime. It was a pretty sweet end to the night.

...got out of Regensburg this weekend

So this weekend I met up with Thorsten and we drove out to his place for dinner. En route, we stopped at Walhalla, which is a building made to look like a Greek temple. Hopefully this link works to the photo album -- send me an email if you can't access it. The view from it was beautiful and the changing leaves brought me back to a trip that Ben, Will, Sara and I made outside Montreal last year.

Walhalla houses busts of famous Germans, and a new one is added every year. I think a measure of your German history could be how many of those people you could give a three-sentence description about. (For the record, I would fail.)

Nearby the Walhalla are ruins of an old fortress that was destroyed by the Swedes hundreds of years ago. There are plans to rebuild it but for now, it's pretty impressive.

The rest of the night consisted of about 700g of steak, potatoes, Winter Festbier, and shots of Wörthebitter. This is a drink that is sold (no lie) at a pharmacy. This must be a village joke (the village's name is Wörthe) that this is a medicine that will cure you of anything. For reference, it will NOT cure you in advance of a hangover. I stayed there the night and they kindly drove me back on Sunday.

...is one day away from convocating.

I'm not sure what that means, except that I'll have a new stack of paperwork and set of people to see. I can only hope for a pay raise, but we'll see. Oh, and maybe something new to hang on my wall. I haven't quite gotten to that whole decorate-the-office thing.

The weekend, on the whole, balanced out to okay. Saturday night was mostly fun, including an amateur theatre performance, dinner out, then a Peter Tosh tribute concert. (Okay, I'll not sign up for Bavarian bands doing reggae again, but it was an experience.) Con was that, as I was biking home, I dropped my iPhone and the screen smashed. The phone itself still worked but looked like crap. By Sunday I had gone through denial, rage and guilt and moved on to acceptance. I took it to the store on Monday. They had to send it away to some shoppe -- I'll get the bad news in the mail. (I decided that was just something that could have happened to anyone. Then, Tuesday evening, I dropped a glass and smashed it in my house. Okay, I change my verdict to clumsiness.)

German classes are going forward. The class size seems to fluctuate between six and twelve, but that doesn't really matter so much. Being in an immersion environment serves as a constant reminder as to how little I truly understand, but (as my father reminded me) it'll take a shit ton of work to get to some kind of reasonable level. Okay, frozen pizza time. Tschuss.

...has been slightly busy

Apologies for the delay! I got back from Prague and then on Friday of that week ended up moving to my next temporary spot (see pic). Here I'm going to be living until the end of November, at which point I get to move into a real apartment. Yes, I'm already excited about it.

So far it's been good here. The place is very nice, and includes fresh linen and towels and cleaning twice a week. Cons are that it's a bit further from the university and downtown and that it's in a basement.

Work has kept me pretty busy lately. I started my German classes on Tuesday and while they're not great, I think I'll keep going so that there's always something pushing me to do some homework. Also in the cards for next week is the start of tutorials. I have two sessions with the little ones but I'm looking forward to it.

...is off to Prague in a few hours.

Saturday I made a day trip to Munich with Verena, who is an old student of Franz's. We hit up the Deutches Museum and then the city center before heading home. The Deutches museum is huge. Too much of it is in German to really learn a lot but they have a great collection of simple physics experiments. I think I'm a sucker for coupled pendulums. They also have a recreation of the "original" STM.

The Marionplatz (photo) is the main square of town and has a few walkways with street vendors and normal stores. While I like the size of Regensburg, it's always nice to head back into a bigger town. Of course, I'll be in Prague soon for two nights on a conference, so I can't really complain about that.

...enjoyed the Abbey

From Monday till Wednesday, a group of us was at the SFB workshop in nearby Niederachdorf. Aside from the Abbey itself, the only other draw is a private aviation museum. The collection there was purchased and is maintained, I've been told, by a fellow who lives next door to it. Unfortunately we couldn't get in.

The talks were pretty standard and I realize that if I'm to pretend to be a physicist, I'm going to have to brush up on spin-orbit coupling. Evidently this grant helps fund my salary. (Where did my beloved molecules go...) Anyway, evenings at the abbey are pretty much standard. After the talks, we headed over to the biergarten to network. And I'd like to say that not all talks were completely over my head. Right now I'm prepping for a sweet workshop we have next week in Prague. And off to Munich tomorrow for the day!

...survived the week

I don't think you truly appreciate a weekend until you work a job where you're expected to be in Monday to Friday, during normal working hours. Hats off to all those who do. (I expect to be hired as a prof one day, where I imagine I'd be able to take half-days off at a whim.) The weekend's been a slow one but a good one.

This week, though, should be cool. We're off to a town that's not too far away for a workshop. Most of the attendees are from my university, but evidently we need to hold it somewhere else. The venue is a nearby abbey, "just downstream on the Danube," (as Franz puts it).

The top pic I posted is of downtown Regensburg, taken from the south end. In fact, if I turn around then you see the second pic, including this gazebo. It's rather nice how they've trimmed the trees enough to give you a line-of-sight view of the cathedral. And tree huggers, don't worry, they've left most of the trees standing.

...is ready for beer and coffee again.

So I've been hit with a cold this week. It's not a pleasant thing, and if you've forgotten the stages, they are sore throat, general tiredness, stuffiness, then getting rid of the stuffiness (ugh) and residual horribleness. I'm at the stuffiness part but what this has been is a lesson in buying medicine in Germany.

Over the counter medications are just that. You get them by going into a pharmacy (called an Apothek -- how sweet is that) and talking with someone who gives you the appropriate medication. This, in my opinion, is much better than wandering down isles of medicine labelled in German, trying to guess what I should have. I'm also now the proud owner of Mucoangin and Rhinospray. Mucoangin is a sore throat reliever. It is a local anesthetic that you suck on. Rhinospray helps unclog your nose. It's a spray that works by contricting (loosening? someone with an MD help me out here...) the blood vessels in the nose. Both work quite well. This makes me much happier than going to a Canadian drugstore where I can only buy cough syrup for "sore throats, coughing, and phlegm in the lungs" or "sore throats and headaches". I like the specialized medicine approach.

And I'm not going to post a pic of me looking crappy, so I thought I'd post one from my archives of the cheapest Scotch I've ever seen. 8 EUR for that bottle. Don't worry, liver, I'm not going to subject you to that. Although someone did recommend a warm beer to help a cold...

..had a nice birthday. Thanks!

So I have to start with a shoutout to my parents, who sent me a card for my birthday, and Kat, who sent me some bday presents -- that was pretty awesome to have, overseas. I spent the beginning of the day just slowly getting up and then went out to a little lake that's not to far from town called Guggenberger See.

The bike out was 12km or so and was really nice, along farmer's fields and some small towns, with the occasional factory thrown in just for juxtaposition's sake. The lake itself is not much to speak of but they do have a sandy area, a little pub nearby, and a sailing club that rents out windsurfing boards. I just went swimming there for a bit, and then relaxed before biking back home.

When I got back, I came into work and did a few things to get ready for tomorrow before remembering to bake. The German tradition is that on your birthday, you bring baked goods for the people you work with. As of writing, I have one little coffee cake-esque piece of baked goods done and the second in the oven. The first one didn't turn out perfectly, but I will serve it for lack of anything better. I need to introduce them to the Canadian custom of having a birthday cake made for you. (and buying the birthday boy a drink.)

...actually had real work this week.

This was the sight as we walked to the caf for lunch today. Pretty delicious, n'est pas?

My apartment search hasn't quite ended as I had hoped it would. The current tenant, who first asked for an extension until Nov. 15, has now asked for an extension to Nov. 30. Now she is a musician, and I understand that those type (BJW and WMPP, I love you both) have a hard time with deadlines. However, as one on the "butt-end" of this deal, things kind of stink down here. I'm tossed up between trying to find temporary housing for six weeks or just looking for a new apartment and cutting my losses. It's a bit of a shame because this one is relatively cheap and nice.

Luckily, there's been one of my favourite obsessions to keep me distracted: work! As well as correcting a low-pass filter (yes, you read that right. I actually corrected someone's electronics) and general lab work, I had to proof all abstracts that Franz wanted for an upcoming workshop we're going to. There were six abstracts to proof, mine to write, and a slightly tight deadline. These kids (read:the PhD students) are good with turnaround times, and we were able to submit everything today. So tomorrow I'm back to lab work and trying to catch up on the literature of the different experiments we're supposed to be doing.

...had a pretty sweet weekend.

On Friday afternoon, I had the feeling that this was going to be a quiet weekend so I decided to go for a run, take it easy at home and maybe swing by work. The run went well and I was relaxing when I got a SMS inviting me out to a guy's house for a few drinks before going out to a club.
I'd never been for a real night out in Germany. We hung out at his place until about 1am (they roll a bit differently over here) before heading to a bar. The people I was with knew the bartenders and so upon the beer we ordered, we all got free shots of I-don't-know-what. Later I would find out that it's a herb-based liquor, similar to Unicum. When we got to the club one of the guys was so drunk that the bouncer said that if we wanted to go in, I had to take care of him. I think I lost him after about three minutes but the club was fun -- people were talkative, even if you couldn't speak German. Club ended at 4:15ish, and I think I was home around 4:30ish.

Needless to say, Saturday was quieter. I did some groceries (the lazy man's load is not wise when you're on a bike) and laundry. My current place doesn't have an oven (wtf) and so I came into lab for a frozen pizza. Delicious.

I had again the impression that Sunday would be quiet and so I got up this morning and headed out for a 10km run, starting from the nearby town of Pentling. I biked over and then ran south, along the Danube. The weather was perfect and when I got home, I received a SMS inviting me out to go climbing near Regensburg. Three friends and a short drive later, we were near Nittendorf, where this pic was taken. They brought climbing shoes for me but they were too small and so I had to just go on a few little climbs that were easy, but the scenery was great and I think everyone had a good time. One of my friends is scaling the cliff wall that you can see. I think I'll definitely sleep well tonight.

...survived the Volksfest!

From L to R, everyone who was in town came out to the Volksfest on Thursday night: Joachim, Flo, Matthias, Max, Frederico, Markus, Verena, me, Tom and Franz. This is us in the beer tent, where we stayed while we were there. There were a few bands that played, including an ACDC cover band (???). Beer here is served by the litre, and there's a special Festbier, which is not bad.

The rest of the festival wasn't much -- just like a fair or something -- ferris wheel, little stupid rides, etc. The location was pretty nice, though. This was the first time I was north of the Danube. I'd like to mention as well that I was in at work a bit after nine on Friday.

...visited the barn last night.

I had planned on getting an iPhone last night after work and then biking out to the barn, but when I finally got my butt into town (after having swung by the grocery store on my way home), I realized I didn't have time and had to get back, eat some dinner, and head out.

The ride is about a half an hour, or a bit over 7km of hills. I seem to have this penchant of trying out shortcuts, and on my way there, I saw a road that looked to be marked with a max. of 60kph. I went down that and it turned out to be a mini-highway. When the truckers started honking at me, I turned around and went along smaller routes.

Once there, I met a fellow (my arrival had been forewarned) who introduced me to things. The coach was sick but will be back, perhaps next week. I walked around and then watched some of the riders practice flatwork. There's little jumping done here, and their jumping ring is smaller than Maple Lane's. I do miss that place quite a bit.

I left around 8:30pm, and started to head home. Engaging the little generator on my back wheel I soon discovered.... that neither front nor back light were connected. I had no equipment with me, and the screws were on so tight that even ripping off a tab from a pen, I was unable to undo them. After 100m of riding in the German countryside without light, I felt this was decidedly unsafe. Thankfully, an idea came to me. For the rest of my bike ride, I held my cell phone in front, periodically pressing a button to light up the screen.

You would think that after that, I'd be smart enough to head home along a well-known path. I decided to try a shortcut. This lead me to a dark path that my feeble cell could not illuminate and so I got off and walked. I ended up passing a gazebo atop a hill with a lookout to the town and the cathedral. I would have enjoyed it more if I knew where I was, or how to get home, as by this time I was slightly tired. But after weaving through sidestreets and a few dead ends, I made my way back.

p.s. This morning I came into work and fixed my lights.

...has been here one week.

To the left is a pic of my super-pimp office. Note the couch: I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a curse. I'm also not sure it's wise to admit that I've already tried it out once.

The week has been full, in the sense that there's a lot to do when you move to a new place. The paperwork wasn't that bad. It just took time and visits to the city hall, a health insurance company, various secretaries, etc. I think I'm almost sorted out for normal life. I came close to picking up an iPhone on Saturday but then saw the T-Mobile's G2 Touch (which is a HTC Hero) and had to make sure I was making the right choice. I saw a series of reviews that favoured the Hero, but noted that the iPhone is more ready for consumers, and with that, I think I'll get an iPhone tomorrow. I'd get it today, but this is Bavaria, and we try to keep our stores closed on Sundays.

In unrelated news, Franz is back from ECOSS tomorrow and we have my first group meeting. I have high hopes of learning what it is I'll be doing for the next three years. Aside from learning German.

ist gut, danke.

It is with relief that I am finally at a computer able to write this. The travel over here was impressively smooth, with only a few strange blunders. I couldn't find one of my bags in Munich, but that ended up being because it had arrived one hour earlier than me. There was a stopover in Zurich and it took an earlier flight. The ticket machine at the train station didn't take my VISA card. A guy behind me in line ended up buying it and I paid him for it in cash. Then I finally took the wrong train because I was in a rush, but I just had to get out at one of the stations and the right train caught up. So, all's well that end's well, and I arrived intact.

In the evening, Lisa and Thorsten, two of Franz's PhD students, met up with me for dinner and we had (this is going to be a great surprise if you read my blog about my stay in Prague) pizza and beer! Well, I was the only one with a beer but I don't go to Germany and pass up the Bier. They drove me home and I was asleep by 10pm.