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The Adventures of Dr. Super Babe: February 2008
The Adventures of Dr. Super Babe
Adventures of a Mexican girl living in the Midwest (which is really the north) and married to the South of the USA
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A workless day in the middle of the week
Yesterday was my last day at work... well, almost. My last official day is technically next Friday, but given that I had some vacation days left from last year and this year, I decided to do what any other person would do and take some vacation before the end of my contract!
I cannot believe that a whole year has gone by. It seems it was only yesterday when I blogged about not knowing what I would do without a job right after our arrival in Berlin. I have to say, it really was a wonderful experience. I may not have been completely thrilled with some parts of the actual work, but the people were great, and I learned a lot about the government work environment in Germany. Even better, last Monday I gave a presentation, to my boss and other superiors, of my final results and they were really excited to see that it was possible to obtain relevant results in 1 year of post-doc, which at first seemed too little for them. That actually made my impostor-syndrome persona feel a little weird. After all, do I really know that stuff? I mean... really?
So yesterday, after returning my keys and my check-in card, I backed up all my data files, and at about 5 pm headed out for the last time. The walk was a little more enjoyable, having to run to catch the train, as usual, was not.
What is next? Not sure. There are some minuscule chances that I may be able to work at the same place, even if it is part time or doing something completely different, in the next couple of months. We shall see. I do have a paper that I should submit in the next couple of weeks, and another one that is still under review, so that will keep me busy.
However, it is not like I will not be having fun. Saturday morning I am flying over the ocean (and thankfully they shot down that dead satellite already, otherwise I was going to be worried about pieces of the damn thing hitting my plane!) and going to Monterrey, Mexico, where I will only be for a couple of hours before going to Monclova, where my parents live, hopefully in time to see the Oscars. That is right. I cannot miss them this year, especially being around the same time zone unlike last year!
In other news... this past weekend was fun. On Friday night we had some friends over for dinner (my Man made some wonderful pizzas), and then we initiated them in the world of Siedler von Catan. Then we went to see 3 movies at the Berlinale. On Saturday we saw "Tres dias" (yes, I am too lazy to put the accent on the i, but that is "three days") from Spain. That was neat. On Sunday we saw "Te acuerdas de Lake Tahoe?" ("Remember Lake Tahoe?" from Mexico) and "3 Zan" ("3 women" from Iran). The director of Lake Tahoe actually won some prize about innovation or something. My theory is that the innovation was for being able to move the camera as little as possible... I did not like the movie at all. Too many black screens during the movie... worse than that Lord of the Rings movie that had 2 or 3 "almost" finals. On the bright side, I absolutely loved the movie from Iran. You should check it out!
And last but not least, this is what I came home to on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week:
Knut blogging...
Knut reading "Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban" Knut attempting to follow the instructions from yoga guru Rodney Yee
My Man had afternoon shifts, so he would stay home when I went to work... He claims he did not know how this happened. Apparently Knut (the stuffed baby polar bear) just got restless. What do you think?
Last Friday we took a vacation day and took off for a weekend in Prague (or hlavní město Praha, its official name). We were excited about seeing the German and Czech countryside by taking a train. When we first got here, we thought we would be doing a lot of train trips, but so far, we have always found it cheaper and faster to go places by plane.
We left the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) in the morning and got in our reserved seats, which were in an enclosed compartment. Some guy was sleeping there when we got in... and he pretty much stayed asleep until he got out in Dresden. From that point we had the compartment to ourselves. We really enjoyed the landscape; after Dresden the train pretty much follows the Elbe river all the way to the Czech Republic, so the view is amazing. You see bluffs, little colorful towns, green grass, and more bluffs for about 2 hours before you arrive in Prague. Sadly we did not stop at the border, so we did not get any passport stamps.
We arrived at Prague's Nádraží Holešovice, which is one of the two main stations in Prague. We found a place to leave our bags and then hopped on the metro to make it to the Castle, as we had planned to visit it during the afternoon. Unfortunately the Czechs had not been made aware of our traveling plans, and they decided to have elections that day. With that going on, we had to change our plans and went down the hill to Malostranské square to see the Church of St. Nicholas (one of the two). From here we walked around Malá Strana (the Lesser or Little Quarter) and we saw some Embassies (including the ones for the US and Germany), then we saw the Church of Our Lady Victorious, where they have the infant Jesus of Prague, which draws visitors from all over the world. We kept walking until we got to a little plaza where there are two houses where Mozart and Beethoven once stayed. On the same plaza we went in a very old church, the Church of St. Mary under the Chain, which is the oldest church in the Little Quarter, dating back to 1169. The walking tour we were following then lead us to Kampa Island, and right before crossing a bridge to get on the island, we walked past the Lennon Wall, which used to be a historic wall but since the 80s has been covered in graffiti and now has a Lennon bronze face on it (my Man wants me to specify it is John Lennon, though I think it is pretty obvious).
We got on Kampa Island to a park that has been there since the 1940s. The views of Charles bridge from the island are really nice, and I had read that taking pictures around sunset at the bridge was nice, so we headed back to start our Charles bridge tour at that time (click here to see a video). The bridge connects the Malá Strana and Staré Město (the Little quarter and the Old Town), and it has about 30 statues, some with very interesting stories. My favorite one was one with a Jesus on a crucifix that had Hebrew writings on it. Apparently some Jewish guy who had made fun of a wooden crucifix that used to be there was forced to pay for it, and I guess to rub it in, they made the new crucifix (that he was being forced to pay for) say in Hebrew "holy holy holy God". At this point we were getting hungry, so we walked back to the Little quarter, found a place to have dinner, and then headed back to the bridge to take some night pictures. After this we made it back to our hotel, which was near the hill where Prague's TV tower is. At night it was lit up with blue, white, and red, and I could see little black spots on it. Later on I would realize those are little babies crawling up the tower... disturbing? Absolutely, but it is only a temporary exhibit.
Prague castle at night
The next morning we made it to the castle again, hoping that it would be open, but the people were still voting, so we were forced to redo our plans for the day. This time we decided to walk around Hradčany (the Castle District). We went to the Loretánská Kaple (the Loreta Chapel), built in 1636 around a replica of Mary's house (a copy of the one that the angels brought from Nazareth to Loreto, Italy, thus the name of the church). The chapel itself was inside a big complex with a church and cloisters. The church was packed with cherubs, which I do not think even Mexican churches have so many of. After here, we made it to the Strahovský Klášter (Strahov Monastery), where we were amazed by the Theological and Philosophical libraries, together containing about 60,000 books and dating back to 1679 and 1782 respectively. The ceiling of the Philosophical library was amazing and it really looked like it belonged inside a palace dance hall. The monastery sits on a hill next toPetřín Hill, where you can see a small replica of the Eiffel Tower.
The beautiful Philosophical library
On our way back down, we stopped by a marionette store in Nerudova street. Marionettes and ceramic are supposed to be typical handcrafts of the Czech Republic, so we looked around the marionettes for a while. I loved some that looked like court jesters, but they were super expensive, so we decided to go for a more budget-friendly magician looking guy. Walking on Nerudova street (named after the poet Jan Neruda, from which Pablo Neruda took his name) we saw a lot of houses with really nice signs over the doors. It used to be that houses would not have numbers, instead, they would have these signs and then you could tell people "I live in the house with the green lobster" or "I live at the three fiddles". The ones I remember the most are, other than the green lobster and the 3 fiddles, the 3 hearts, the red sheep, the violin, the 3 ostriches, the 3 storks, the 2 suns (that is Jan Neruda's house) and one with 3 fish... oh, and we saw one with a golden snake too.
The three fiddles on Nerudova street
We got to Charles bridge, crossed it, and then climbed up the stairs to see Prague from the bridge tower. The view of the bridge with the castle behind was pretty cool. I was thankful we had such lovely weather. It was cold but sunny, which allowed for some nice photography. At this point we decided to walk around Staré Město (Old town).
Charles bridge and Prague castle from the bridge tower
We walked on Karlova street and passed a lot of souvenir shops and a few theaters, and made it the Staroměstské Náměstí (the Old town plaza), where the Old Town Hall with the Astronomical Clock stands. We made it there right on time and we got to see the striking of the hour with the bells and the apostles parading through above the top of the two faces of the clock (click here to see the video). That was pretty neat. The plaza is surrounded by really nice buildings, as well as the Tyn Church, with its very cool towers, and the other Church of St. Nicholas, which we went into (click here to see a video of the plaza). We kept walking around Old Town and saw St. James church and then stopped for a little lunch in Ungelt, a surprising little plaza that used to be a pottery market. Near there we saw the Black Madonna statue, which was decorating the corner of a house.
Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Hall
From here we walked to Náměstí Republiky (the Republic plaza), saw the Municipal House, which is now a concert hall and cultural center. Then we walked along Na Příkopě, a street that has lots of nice buildings and shops, and that took us to the north side of Václavskí Náměstí (Wenceslas Square). The "square" was very long and thin, with the National Museum at the far end. According to our guide books, Wenceslas Square is where people really gathered during important national events... kind of like the Macroplaza in Monterrey... except that one is mostly for sports celebrations. There were many demonstrations in Wenceslas Square during the Communist years and it was the center of action during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The square has several very pretty buildings including some art deco style hotels that we really liked.
Beautiful buildings flanking Wenceslas square
Our next stop was the Charles Square, which was a short walk to the south. There we saw the Novoměstská radnice (New Town Hall) with its three distinctive gables. We also visited the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius which is on the square -- we noticed it immediately because of the statue with the golden aura that stands at the top of the roof. We did not spend much time in the Charles Square because we had tickets to see Don Giovanni at the Marionette Theater back on Karlova street. We were not sure that it had been a good choice to spend some of our precious Prague hours watching puppets, but we had a great time. The puppeteers were very enthusiastic and we enjoyed watching them running around to get all the characters on and off the stage. After the "opera," we headed back to our hotel to get some much needed rest.
On Sunday, we went once more to the front gate of the Prague castle and the third time was the charm (unfortunately getting to see the castle meant we did not have time to see Josefov, the Jewish quarter, which we had also been looking forward to). We got to see the changing of the guard (click here to see video) and then we walked in with the marching soldiers to the castle's first courtyard. While my Man got us some tickets to see various things in the castle complex, I went to take a look inside St. Vitus's Cathedral, whose large towers we had been seeing from all over town. They were getting ready for mass and they stopped letting people in right after I came in, so he had to experience it through my pictures. I met him back outside and we went to see the Old Royal Palace that contained the beautiful Vladislav hall and the windows where the governor got thrown out of the palace at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War (this is now called the Second Defenestration, apparently the people in Prague were fond of tossing people out of windows and did it more than once).
Stained glass windows' light in St. Vitus's Cathedral
After the Royal Palace we saw St. George's Basilica, another church (and convent) also housed inside the castle complex. Then we walked around to the end of the castle for one of the touristic highlights, a narrow street called Golden Lane. It gets its name from the alchemists who used to work there. We enjoyed seeing a tiny house where Franz Kafka worked, and we bought some pretty glass ornaments from a Christmas handcrafts shop a couple doors down (I have decided that I want to collect Christmas ornaments for our tree when we get back to the US. The glass spheres they sold in Prague were so cute -- they will be a great start for the tradition!). Golden Lane leads to an old tower (with medieval torture stuff, yikes!) and the end of the castle complex. We walked on a long sloping street that carried us back down to the area near Nerudova street. From there we caught the metro and made it back in plenty of time for our return train to Berlin.
Little German town by the Elbe
On the return train we were in a normal long car instead of a compartment. Unfortunately, instead of a sleeping man, we had a bunch of loud guys as travel companions. We enjoyed the scenery on the way back to Berlin (click here to see video), but we didn't relax much in the loud car and got back to Berlin two tired travelers. Tired, but happy after a great visit to beautiful Praha!
That means "Today, a year ago" and it is the name of a song by Hombres G I used to love back in high school (you can click here to see a video of the song).
So, yes, today, a year ago, we arrived in Berlin. Going back to that old post, I guess I can update some of my feelings.
This was our first view of Berlin (from Viktoria Park) 3 hours after we had arrived to stay
My complaints back then were:
German showers. I guess that is old news. In our new apartment we have a shower (and no tub) and it is awesome. We actually have missed it in some of our travelings.
Internet access. That took about 10 weeks to fix, but we got it done. We now have a phone and wireless internet plan in our house, so when you come visit us, you can use your laptop to search the tubes while sitting on the couch.
The weather. Still sucks, but at least now we're used to it. And most of the time we remember to not leave the apartment without an umbrella, because rain can strike at any moment.
German pillows. That was fixed as soon as we moved to our new place. A quick trip to IKEA took care of that, and I actually really like the new ones.
New complaints that as an excited newcomer I did not notice back then include:
Smokers. They are everywhere. Everywhere. Just today while waiting for tickets for the Berlinale I saw a guy smoking a cigar inside the mall. They smoke in the train stations, right under the no smoking sign, and take a big puff before entering the car, therefore exhaling the smoke inside the train. Yuck.
Dog poop on the sidewalks. Parisians may disagree with me, but the times we have been in Paris I really have not noticed. Here it is impossible not to. People just let their dogs poop wherever they feel like and never, ever, clean up afterwards.
The things I really liked back then included:
Germans. I still like them, though it took some adjustment to get used to their stares on the train. I think my work environment really was a great cultural experience for this as well. I have learned, however, that unless their English is pretty good, they will tell you they do not speak English. And a lot of times when they ask for your opinion, they already have an idea of what they want (you) to do and after you waste your brain space thinking of ideas or suggestions, they will tell you something like "well, I think we should do this". They may come across as rude but I think that is just a result of them being more upfront and direct, which I greatly appreciate.
Grocery stores. I still love them, which is a big statement considering I have been living a meat-free life since last April and still find good stuff to eat at the stores... And even more now that we have discovered a bio store 2 blocks away from our house. Back then my Man had just discovered the greatness of Nutella, but now has moved into more daring flavors, like the Rapunzel Samba Kokos. And we both have embraced the whole bringing our bags to the store. My Man is happy taking a girly basket and I usually have my Envirosax with me.
Smart cars. I like them when I see them, but I do not go crazy for them anymore.
Runners. I still see them everywhere, except that now they make me feel guilty for keeping my lazy ass inside the house (or worse, heading out to dinner, I particularly hate seeing them then!). We have joined the most expensive gym ever, it is next to our house, and I still do not feel like going sometimes. My excuses are endless. Hopefully that will change in the next month or two, once I am unemployed and really have time to get back in running shape... I am thinking of running a half marathon in August, we shall see.
Recycling. Yep. Still loving it. We even get a refund on glass jars (from yogurt and beer, mostly). We intend to keep up the green style once we go back to the US of A. And since we are on the green topic, I love (most of the time) not having a dryer.
Euro bills and coins. Still nice, especially after we have seen the coins from the other EU countries. We recently were told (and it is true) that Germany usually has a lot more coins from the other EU countries, because Germans travel a lot and bring the coins back to Deutschland with them.
Other things we have liked so far include:
Living in a big city. It is awesome to have so much stuff happening around you. Just now on our way back from the Sony Center we saw people lining up next to a red carpet for a film called "Unsere Erde" (Earth). I will be mad at myself tomorrow if I read somewhere that Leo DiCaprio was there and I did not see him. But it is nice to have the opportunity to make a weekend trip to the film festival. Of course, it helps that we live across from an S and U station (S and U are different train lines), so we can quickly get on either one and go places.
Christmas markets. I can't wait to stay here this year and experience a real German Christmas. Our short preview of the markets really left us wanting more.
Ease of travel to other European places. That has been, by far, the best part of our stay here. It really has been an amazing opportunity to be able to go to so many places and learn from other cultures. Even if we are poor and only have our futon to sleep on when we go back (which is the reason we kept it), it will all have been worth it.
Friday night we went dancing with a couple of Spanish friends we met in our German class. We went to Havanna, and if you do not mind getting there early (9 pm), you can get in for cheap (9 Eur for the two of us) and get a free salsa lesson. I was a little hesitant, since my only experience with those types of places was Club Caliente in Nashville, which I never really liked much... it was just too sleazy... apparently Americans think of latin music as music to make out, which I never really understood. I mean, we dance because we like dancing, not because we want to grind with strangers. To my surprise, there were a lot of (not-grinding) Germans here, and there were some that were really good at salsa dancing. The other thing that brought joy to my heart (and a big reason we may go back) is that the place is smoke-free. Kudos to Havanna on that decision! We got on an intermediate lesson and learned one turn and got to practice the stuff we remember from our salsa class at Vandy. It was funny that both instructors for the intermediate and advanced lessons were Germans, and they would call girls "chicas" and boys "chicos".
Unfortunately, I am not used to wearing heels anymore, so the balls of my feet were killing me after 3 hours of dancing. The walk back to the train station (about 3 blocks) was pain-full. I even took my shoes off at some point, hoping that would make the pain go away, but it did not... and worse, I was afraid I was going to step on glass or dog poop (both very plausible on the sidewalks of Berlin). We got back home at almost 2 am, which, apart from my aching feet, made me feel young again.
Saturday morning my feet were still hurting and it was just cloudy, cold, and a bit rainy, so we just took it easy and cleaned up some around the house. At some point we made it to the bio store to get some food, and then got ready to go have dinner at my boss' house. Getting there was not particularly fun, as the bus took forever and then we had to walk about 500 m in the rain / snow (with no umbrella). But, once we got to their place, we really had a fun time. They had a Raclette grill, which is really popular in these areas (the first Raclette dinner I had was in the Netherlands), and they are usually sold around Christmas time. I found out that T-fal sells one in the US, so we can get one when we go back! We spent the evening talking while cooking our food, and then just having a good time while discussing travel plans past, present, and future. These people have gone everywhere. They agree that a big motivation is the fact that they grew up in East Germany, and travel options and funds were limited, so when the wall came down, they really had a big desire to see the world. It is amazing.
When we left, they walked us over to the bus stop, and while we were waiting, we saw a really bad car accident. There was a little bridge and somebody skidded while going over it. The car flipped over twice before crashing on the side of the road. Thankfully both people got out of the car and were just fine, but I guess it is true that the bridges ice before the rest of the road. I was surprised to see how fast an ambulance got there (less than 5 minutes after we called).
This morning we made it to Ku'damm by the Zoo Station and watched the KarnevalsZug (the carnival parade). It was cold, but the day was nice, and there were lots of people there... lots of kids and grown ups with funny makeup and wigs... and costumes as well. As the carnival was parading through, the people on the little trains would throw candy, pop corn and, in some cases, sausages to the public. We saw people holding their umbrellas "flipped" (you know, like when it is really windy and they flip up) to hold the candy on them (and avoid getting hit in the head with the candy, like I did).
A car from the parade
After seeing some of the parade, we had lunch at 12 Apostel, one of our favorite Italian places in that area, and then we went to Unter den Linden by the Brandenburg Gate, as we had some pictures to take. You see, last Friday we got a Flat Stanley from our friends in Houston. Their son is learning about this project and they send copies of Stanleys to friends in other places so that the kids can learn about other places in the country / world. We took some pictures of Stanley in the carnival, by the Brandenburg Gate, by the Berliner Dom, and then in Alexanderplatz.
Flat Stanley and the Brandenburg Gate
You can see some pictures of our weekend adventures here, and you can see a video of the Karnevalszug here.
Knut blogging...
Knut reading "Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban"
Knut attempting to follow the instructions from yoga guru Rodney Yee
Knut blogging...
Knut reading "Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban"
Knut attempting to follow the instructions from yoga guru Rodney Yee
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