Gary is here!!

Finally my guy is here! I've missed him so much even though we've talked regularly. Things are more fun with him around.

G was arriving at 7:30am on Friday so I decided to do what the locals do and go to the airport by train. It's much cheaper than taxi and just as fast. Stefan who I now call my personal travel agent showed me exactly how to get there so I did ok.

I still had to go into work for a few important meetings so I left G at the apartment to unpack and get some rest. We went into the Altstaedt (Old Town) that night. I couldn't wait to show him the the Dusseldorf he saw last year when they dropped me off at hkl for a meeting was the ugliest part of the city. We walked around old town which had over 250 restaurants/bars in a very condensed area. I've only been here about 4-5 times but still discovering new things. We discovered a small alley that were lined with what must have been a dozen spanish restaurants. There was some live music and the heaters were out so that people could still dine outside in the cool weather. We chose a restaurant along the busier row and sat outside to people watch. It turned out to be a Chilean restaurant and our dinner was delicious. Gary got the salmon which was the one dish that he liked that I could not make ahead of time and freeze for him at home. It just wouldn't taste good to freeze and microwave. I had some yummy pork fillets on mustard sauce. I liked that they had a menu that was in german/spanish/english. Gary couldn't believe how lively the area was and I assured him it was quiet compared to a Saturday night. As we ate we watched people parade up and down the narrow alley. Sometimes you would see a group of revelers wearing themed clothes with party hats and holding a bottle of beer in their hand.

After dinner we walked along the Rhein River. It was a very different scene from last Friday when I was out with Juliana. At that time it was 80 degrees so all of the bars & restaurants that lined the riverfront were filled with poeple. Tonight it was in the low 60's so it was much more subdued.

I took G to the famous Urige brewery in old town. The brewery was on one side of the street with tables out on the sidewalk. However there were also the same set up on the other side with a narrow cobblestone street in between. On the edges there were small metal trays for people to set their beers. The waiters weave through the crowds with trays of Alt beers. The alt beer come in a small glass and only cost about $2.6 Euros. Rather than sit on one of the picnic tables G & I sat on the steps facing the street so we could people watch. We were lucky with the rain even though it was a cool night. After the beer I felt a little cold so we decided to look for a little cafe for some hot chocolate.

Close to Urige brewery we found a very cool cafe. G refers to it as the "pimp bar" because of the different rooms/lairs with couches and big pillows. The cafe is sunken a few feet below. Inside there were cushioned benches and comfy pillow all along the glass windows. It was called the Kas Bah and they serve alcohol along with coffees and teas. I got my latte machiano and G ordered a Baileys hot chocolate which was SO yummy! The place was so cozy and romantic. I told G the next time I wanted to sit upstairs in the room that looked like a harem. There were exotic looking furniture and pillows and it looked really cool. It was such a nice place to hang out and talk. After 12 years of being together we don't bother much with romance, but this place really brings it out. We will definitely come back.

It was midnight before we left old town. It's late for us but people are just starting their night out. The place was buzzing but we were glad to leave the partying to them. On the way out we passed a bar with some sexy girl pole dancing on a stage. What the heck?! The other bars were now turning into dance club. I've found that the later it is the louder the music. What a great place.

Things I miss (besides Gary)

In no particular order.....

Air conditioning - on the days it's humid
Ice in my drinks
A strong hairdryer - have to plan twice the time with the weak voltage
Watching tv with english speaking channels - my only choice is CNN
Soft toilet paper
Being in a country with a language that I understand
My car
My bathroom with all my things around me
Wearing heels at work
My closet of clothes - wearing only 5 pair of pants over and over again really sucks
Cooking in my kitchen
My mac computer

Meant to go to Belgium but ended up in Netherlands

Come on, how many chances will I have to say that I went to the wrong country by accident?! Actually, I hope this will be the first and last time!


My niece Angela who was in London was going to meet me in Bruges for the wknd. My train from dd was leaving at 8am Saturday with two stops (Cologne and then Brussels). I got to Cologne ok and went to the right platform for the connecting train to Brussels. What I didn't realize was that there were 2 trains on the same platform and ofcourse I got on the wrong train! I was expecting to be in Brussels at 10:30 and when that time came and passed I started to get nervous. Maybe the train was just running behind schedule. I didn't see a conductor anywhere to ask. When it was 11 I got up and found all 3 conductor in the bar part of the train. Nice work ethics. I showed them my ticket and said "Brussels"? They started laughing and said I was on the wrong train! This train was heading to Amsterdam which was way north of where I needed to go! The bartender said that I'll have to take a cab in amsterdam back to Brussels and it would cost about $3,000 euros. After my mouth dropped open he said just kidding! Bastard, I'm glad somebody thought it was funny. Fortunately one of the conductor felt sorry for the stupid american and looked up the schedules and wrote out what I needed to do. I basically had to backtrack and take another 2 connections before I can get to Brussels south station 1 1/2 hours later. I would have been so lost if they didn't help me. I tried to reach Angela but couldn't get through for a good 15 minutes. I was panicking thinking that I wasn't dialing the international code correctly. I think it was because she was underground in the train station in brussels. When I got a hold of her Angie decided to wait for me in brussels and we would take the train to Bruges together. She took a cab and went to see the Grand Palace in Brussels. I only told Angie I was running behind. I didn't want other people to hear about my incredibly stupid move. The crazy thing was the conductor did one point scanned my ticket and he didn't notice I was on the wrong train! At one of the stop I looked on the map and saw I traveled almost all the way through the Netherlands! I totally missed Belgium! This gave Angie a good laugh. She couldn't believe her well traveled auntie could have made such a blunder. Well, nobody's perfect. I can just see Gary shaking his head again. I have to say this was not a bonehead american move, it was a bonehead anh move!

Bruges is a beautifully preserved medieval town with cobble stone streets. The centerpiece of the old town is the Market Square with the Post Office on one side and the Bell Tower (built in the year 1200). You can climb the 366 steps up the Bell Tower which we did on Sunday. The town is 12km from the north sea and is known for its lace, chocolates, frites (fries), mussels and ofcourse the belgian waffles. Angie & I were so excited to eat our way through the city, screw our diets! To start our weekend properly we had waffles with ice cream topped with warm chocolate sauce for lunch. It was sooooo good. After lunch we had to try the fries from the stands in front of the bell tower, only because the tour book said we had to! The fries here are fried twice, once to cook it and second time to brown. I don't know if this made it different but it was the best fries EVER! I got Angie turned on to curry ketchup with the fries. It was the same sauce as my Curry Wurst in germany. When we bought it I asked for an order of "french fries". The vendor looked at me and said "what"? I said "french fries" and again he said "what"? Suddenly it clicked and I asked for "belgian fries"?! He nodded in approval and took my order. Whew!



We took a 20 minute boat tour in the canals and got a little history of the city. Because of the canals this town is referred to as the Venice of the north. Angie said she liked this place better than Venice.

We then rented bikes from the shop next to our hotel and rode through the town for 4 hours for $5 euros. What a great way to see the city. We rode through quiet narrow cobblestone streets away from the busy market square, along the pretty canals, and then onto a nice bike path that has 4 windmills along the way. There are dozens of cafes or bars that you can stop at along the way to take a break. One point I stopped to take a picture of a house and was too lazy to put the kickstand down and park the bike. The bike slipped away from me and I was too slow to react. As a result the metal petal scraped along the top of my bare foot. Luckily no heavy bleeding, just a big bruise a little blood and some missing skin! Oi vay, I am sure Gary is shaking his head again.

Throughout the weekend the market square had a big stage for music. There were alternating bands playing traditional or classical music. Restaurants & bars that bordered the squares had tables and chairs that overflowed into the big square. All were filled with happy tourists. I don't think we sat inside any restaurants the whole time. The weather was perfect, it was warm and mostly sunny. Angie was so happy to get a break from the depressing London weather. We agreed that so far this is one of our favorite european town. It was the perfect size and perfect blend of charm, history, architectural significance, cuisine and culture. I guess we were there during the peak season so it was very lively.

We loved the mussels so much we had it both days! On Sunday I did try the traditional peasant style beef stew which came in a miniature copper pot. You pour the beef stew over fries. At first we asked for ketchup to eat with our fries, but after dipping our fries with the gravy we ditched the ketchup, yeah that is SO american! The restaurant (called The Flemish Pot) had its own cookbook so we found the recipe to see how the beef stew was made. They put beer in it! I'm going to try it when I get home! It was such a charming place with red & white checkered curtains and flower pots, we sat outside on the patio which was in a quiet alleyway.

Even though the book said that the dutch do not eat belgian waffles or pancakes (which is really our version of crepes) for breakfast, Angie & I were determined to find a place to eat waffles for breakfast. The book did not lie. It took us a good half hour before we found a place. Actually we went back to the same place from the day before because we couldn't find anything else! Angie ended up getting apple struedel with ice cream and I got the pancake with warm apples and caramel sauce. It was so good! We were moaning our delight pretty loudly. I wish we had more time for more meals here!

A small note of our hotel (Hotel Heritage). Since it was just for one night I decided to splurge on this small boutique hotel, $215 for the night. It was so luxurious! After going up a spiral marble staircase we get to our room (only 24 rooms). There was a huge king size bed with a chandelier on the ceiling and beautiful 18th century furniture. It had airconditioning! There were robes & slippers for us and the toiletries were from Hermes (ofcourse I took them home with me!) The soap smelled so good!! I made Angela take one home for her mom! The hotel had Turkish steam bath & sauna but unfortunately we did not have time to enjoy it. Best of all it was located right behind the main market square so we were walking distance to everything.

It was lucky for me that the clothing shops were closed on Sunday because I could have done some serious damage! I wish we had enough time for another leisurely bike ride but we had to leave for the train station at 5pm on Sunday. Even worse, I wish we had more time (and stomach space) for another belgian waffle! At least we had some ice cream before leaving.

This town is perfect for 2-3 day weekend. The people are very nice and it was much easier to communicate since most could speak german, french, english and ofcourse the native tongue which is dutch. Gary has been here before otherwise I would seriously consider going back with him.

Friday night in DD

Today it finally warmed up again. After a week of cool and rainy weather everyone was very happy to see the sun. At 3pm Guido says "ice cream after work?" Enough said, I told him about the nice ice cream parlor by the guesthouse in Holtausen plaza. Juliana & I stumbled upon it the day before on our way to the market the day before. Emrah joined us at 5 since he had a 6:30 train to Salzburg for the wknd. It was 80 degrees and sunny. I was starting to sweat with the walk. The ice cream parlor was a sit down place with dozens of types of sundaes. I ordered a sundae with walnuts and cherries which also came with a little cup of cherries on the side. Emrah got a belgian waffle with a scoop of icecream. And Guido ordered spagheti frozen yogurt which threw me off! It turned out that they use a special dispenser so that his ice cream looked like spagheti strands. Ofcourse all these were served in fancy glass cups and dishes cute little spoons. I swear I don't remember the last time I've seen a paper plate or cup! Anyway, I taught the guys some more american slang while they shared stories of how they met their girlfriends. I thought it was funny when Guido said his girlfriend couldn't stand him when they first met. We had a fun time and declared that from now on Friday will be ice cream day! I can't wait to take Gary who is an ice cream monster. He is going to love this place.

I had just enough time to buy some fruit at the farmers market out front and run home to get cleaned up before meeting Juliana for shopping and dinner in Alsteadt. J is another colleague from my department. She is a young lady from Nairobi Africa doing an expat assignment in germany. She has been here 7 months and has admitted that it has not been an easy adjustment. She even commented on how quickly I seem to blend into the work environment as well as in Germany overall. I think it's just my many years of traveling that makes it easier for me to acclimate. She was amazed at my german and how good I was after only one week. Ha, my trick is that I might only know a handful of words but I can say it pretty well.


We window shopped along Konigsalle which is a famous street lined with high end shops. Konigsalle means kings' alley which was named as compensation to king Frederik (the II?) when he got horse poop thrown at him when he visited dd. The street reminded me of Champs Elysees in Paris or 5th Ave NYC. My sisters would like this shopping street I think. All along one side of the wide sidewalk there were endless outside cafes with tables full of patrons who were there for the purpose of people watching. I knew this because all their chairs were placed facing one way so that they can watch people walking by! I felt out of place because I wasn't dressed up like everyone else.


J was in the mood for seafood so we walked into the Alteadt (Old Town) in search for the right restaurant. There were so many to choose from. Finally we stumbed upon one with outdoor seating. I noticed a bowl of mussels on someone's table and said this must be a seafood place. We sat down and quickly realized that this place was literally a mussels place. They serve mussels in a dozen different ways. I ordered mussels steamed in cream, garlic, butter and white wine. J did the same and declared that she has never had mussels before. Back home I was used to ordering clams or mussels as an appetizer. I was a little worried that this would not be enough to be a meal even thought the waiter assured me it would be. Just to be safe i ordered the large portion. Well, J and I could have shared a small portion! It was so much food we barely ate half of our meal. I was relieved that J really enjoyed her first experience with mussels. She was very excited to have tried something new.


I was so interested to learn about Africa and the way of life there. J does not care for some of the food here because it's processed. SHe says at home the food is fresh and simple. Chicken tastes like chicken, beef tastes like beef. The meat on your table comes from the farm nearby and has not been treated with chemical. J has a sister that lives in Michigan but she has never been to the states. She knew enough to say that the winter in Michigan is very cold and the sun rarely shines there! She asked me about president Obama and my opinion of him. It seemed to her that he has not been too active and Michelle has been more quiet than expected.

We went for a very long walk along the Rhine. It was a very warm day (about 80 degree) so it seemed like the whole city was out enjoying the weather. I love the Altsteadt. It's a place for tourists and locals. There's live music, lots of restaurants with outdoor seating and over 300 bars in a very condense area. Next to the river there are wide walkways that invites a leisurely stroll.
I had to call it an early night since I was meeting Angela in Brugge (Belgium) the next morning and still needed to pack. Glad to have a chance to get to know J a little better. We will be doing an assignment together in France in october. I thought it was important to get to know her before we started working closely together for 3 weeks. I think we will do ok together.

It's a different work culture here....

It's been a week in the DD office now and I'm getting the hang of it. Around 7:30 each morning I do my 20 minute brisk walk to the office. The campus is not so intimidating now and I'm finding my way around. I get there in time to make a quick call to Gary to say good night since it's 11pm phx time. People start to come into the office between 8:30 and 9. At noon we start to gather the troop and walk to the cafeteria which ranges from 5 to 15 minute walk depending on which of the 4 you go to. I love the salad bar but they have other good food as well. During lunch we don't linger over the meal. It's a quick half hour meal or less. Sometimes someone will say, "coffee?" and we all proceed to another section of the cafe where there is a machine that will make you whatever kind of coffee you want. You just scan your card, put a cup under the spout and push a button. You can get expresso, cappucino or regular coffee. I have become addicted to the Latte Mochiano. Part of the fun is watching the process starting with hot milk being foamed out of two spouts and when the glass is full there's final squirt of espresso. I'm told that if it's done right you will see separate layers of milk and espresso. There's a separate section that you hang out to drink your coffees. Very cool. Very few people bring their lunch but instead use the lunch time to network with colleagues either within or outside of their department. Also, I found out the hkl gives each employee $55 a month for meals in the cafes so there's incentive for them to eat there.

Guido is a good office mate. Most of the time we are working but sometimes would take a break to chat. I am learning more about the german culture everyday. Today we talked about the lower level of service and Guido explained that it's only been recent (as in the last 20 years) that Germany has gotten into privatization. There has been little competition so there's little incentive for customer service. Nevertheless, I am so impressed with the germans and their forward thinking. They are so high tech and efficient. Yesterday I learned that when I buy my train ticket on line for destinations within or outside of germany, I can enter my address and the computer will tell me which local tram to take to the main train station at what time, how long it will take to walk from the tram stop to the platform of my train. Damn if I knew about this when Megan & I went to Aachen we wouldn't have missed our tram!

It's funny to see so many people getting around work on their bikes. I no longer do a double take when I see someone riding the bike in their business suit. The other day I saw a girl in a pant suit and heels riding her bike. She had some kind of tape around the ankle to prevent the pants from getting caught in the chains, very strange!

Another strange sight is people walking around with a bottle of beer in their hands. I guess there are no rules around glass bottles. In the Altstaedt (old town) it gets a little rowdy on the weekends so there's broken glass in the street but it's cleaned up by the next day. Today I passed a guy waiting at the bus stop with a big bottle of Becks beer in his hand. So strange!

Curry Wurst in Media Harbour

Last night was our much anticipated appointment for Curry Wurst, a special local dish. It's a favorite of Guido and Stefan and was the first time for Emrah. After work we picked up Stefan's wife Andrea. She was shy with her english which was not as good as Stefan who throughout the night kept nudging me to talk to her in english. He even told me to ask her open ended questions instead of yes/no questions to force her to use her english. They were a very cute couple.

We went to a restaurant specializing in this dish. It was very intimidating in the beginning. The place was bustling and it's up to you to find a table. We had to sit at the bar for our meal since all were too hungry to wait. Remember that the european can linger pretty long over their meals so you never know. The menu was simple enough although I didn't figure this out until later. Our waitress was rude and impatient (or so Emrah thought), when we didn't look like we knew what we wanted she just walked away! Anyway, all they have is the curry wurst or bratwurst, french fries, cole slaw and many different sauces on the side. What it looked like was a really fat hot dog with a nice gravy type sauce in which you dip the wurst and fries. Andrea ordered the satay sauce as her extra sauce which was a peanut base sauce. I thought that sounded too strange but when she let me taste it with the fries it was fantastic! Can't wait to bring Gary here. Definitely not a touristy place and I was happy to have a local experience. It was a very modern looking restaurant with uncomfortable furniture. They only had stools for chairs so by the end of the meal I had to stand up to straighten out my posture. The fries (pommes) tasted so good I ate it all. Guido finished his dinner and then ordered an extra plate of fries. Looking into the open kitchen you can see a mountain of french fries and dozens of wurst on the grill. Guido channeling our job observed how efficient and profitable this operation is. Simple ingredients - wurst and fries and some sauces, simple menu, and fast turnover.

After dinner we walked along the harbour which had some pretty awesome architectural buildings. All very funky and modern - one exterior looked like it was made out of aluminum foil and the others were crooked or were very oddly shaped. I think Gary would enjoy seeing this area. It's very different from the atmosphere of Old Town which can be seen in the distance north of the Rhine. We stopped in a bar to have a beer and I ordered the alt beer with coke. Yes, it's beer mixed with coke. They also do this with Fanta and Sprite.

We then got in the car to drive to Ratinger St. which was the crazy party street I went to a week ago. I learned that this street was also referred to as "the longest bar in the world". Apparently this street is at its craziest on Wednesday and on weekends. It was a very lively scene with people packed and overflowing into the street. There are many bars/restaurant lined up right next to each other on both sides. You can basically stop at any of the many bars and hang out along the sidewalk. The waiters go back and forth with platters full of small glasses of alt beer (a nice dark beer local to Dusseldorf). You just wave to the waiter as he passes through and pay him $1.6 euros for a beer. Ofcourse you can order other drinks but it seemed like beer was the popular drink and plentiful. Ofcourse we ran into other hkl people, how can you not when it felt like the whole city was compacted into this one block area! There were also dance clubs along this street so people usually venture into these as it gets later. How can these people stay up so late on a work night?! Ofcourse it was a younger crowd so maybe that's why! I'm not sure if Gary will like this place but at the very least it will be interesting for him to see. To be honest it was fun to see it but not my favorite place. I felt claustrophobic at times. It's a great place for anyone who enjoys the bar scene. It's more of a local place. The tourisy places in Old Town is only a couple of blocks over.

Day trip to Aachen

On the recco of my colleagues I did a day trip to Aachen with Megan on Sunday. It's the most western town in germany and 1 hour 20 minute train ride from DD. only $46 USD. It's famous for its cathedral and thermal bath house. The bath house was off the list since Megan did not have her swimsuit.

We bought tickets for the 8:40 train and thought that leaving our guesthouse at 8 would be plently of time to take the tram that will get us to DD train station. Well, as we were walking to the tram stop we saw it go right by us. Ok, we'll catch the next one. When we got to the stop it said the next tram was 25 minutes away! Note to self, trams on the weekends run less frequently than weekdays. Then Megan saw tram #701 and thought that we should just hop on. We did and about 5 minutes later realize it might not take us to the train station. We decided to hop off and take a taxi. OK, second note to self - there are hardly any taxis on Sunday. Any taxi we saw had a passenger in it. I quickly concluded that any taxis on the road is only there if they have been called. Crap, it was now 8:30 and there was no way in hell we are going to make it. We ended up wating for the next tram to come along. It was 8:50 by the time we got to the train station which meant we had to figure out how to get on the next train which according to Megan was not so easy. I asked Megan if there's any chance the 8:40 train might be late and she said there's zero chance. The german trains are always on time, to the minute. Well, wouldn't you know it, we happened to look and our train was running late!! Megan was flaberghasted saying that this has never happened. I was feeling a little smug myself.

It was forecasted to rain on Sunday and I was hoping our luck would continue. Nope. It was drizzling lightly when we got to Aachen. It was such a cute town. We walked the whole day. We booked the english speaking tour of the cathedral. Meanwhile we walked around the small cobblestone streets, ducked into cafes to buy sweets and to eat lunch. I love the sandwiches here, the bread is fresh baked. I got an open face sandwich with fresh salmon, it was so yummy. Gave some of my quiche to Megan when she discovered that her wrap had some huge slices of pineapple, not expected! After lunch we checked out the city hall. OK, just picture a typical city hall and think the opposite! The building was built in the 14th century and more of a palace. It was incredibly ornate, inside and out.

The cathedral was so pretty. It was a mix of baroque and gothic architecture. The town itself suffered a lot of damages in WWII but luckily the church was unscathed except for the windows. It was built in the year 798 during the reign of Charlemagne and the oldest cathedral in northern europe. For 600 years it was the coronation place for 30 german kings and 12 queens. On the tour we got to see Charlemagne's throne which was place high above so he could look down and see the church activities. The throne was also used for the coronations. The choir hall was incredible, all 3 sides in colorful stain glass windows that were 100ft high. Even my wide lense cameras couldn't quite take it all in. I was amazed that they allowed flash pictures of the frescoes since they were over 1,000 years old and fading. The cathedral also held the St.Mary treasury which contained 4 relics that included the Virgin Mary's cloak & Christ's loin cloth. It has been tradition since the 14th century that these relics are taken out of the sealed treasury every 7 years for the pilgrims to see. The last time was 2007. This was when we found it hard to believe that something that was 2000 years old could be taken out and exposed to the environment and not be damaged! Ofcourse we couldn't offend the guide by expressing our doubts. Megan is going to ask her dad the scientist if this is even possible!

By now it has been raining steadily. We had our umbrella but it still sucked! This called for a nice leisurely dinner. The old town had dozens of restaurants and we eventually chose this very charming mediteranean restaurant (called Aix Mediterano). The front had a huge green and white strip awning that covered some tables and chairs and a profusion of potted flowers. The inside was just as cute. It reminded me of a small restaurant on a greek island, stucco and ceramic tile floors and with more fresh flowers. The restaurant owner/waiter/cook was a very charming little man with a big black mustache. When we asked if he had an english menu he shook his head but asked if we spoke spanish or french. Great! Now I can converse with him in spanish and cut back on the sign language! We were able to order in spanish. The place had two stories . Downstairs where we were there was a little brick oven where he grills the tomatoes and zuchinis. After taking our order he went to his counter and pressed into an intercom on the wall, apparently to place the order with the cook! I pictured the computerized way they place our orders in the states and thought this was much more entertaining. It was really funny to see him do this throughout our time there. You can hear the cook talk back to him as well. The hummus was freshly made and the pita bread was thick and grilled, we were in heaven. Megan's main course came with fries so she asked our waiter for ketchup. He looked at us strange but brought it anyway. Finally he spoke up and said that on our plates were little saucers of ketchup that he made fresh from his tomatoes, much better than the ketchup from the bottle! We made a quick recovery and said we wanted to save his special "ketchup" for our meats!

We ended our day with some great dessert and hot chocolate at the bakery/cafe. OMG they know how to make hot chocolate here! They give you a cup of hot foamy milk and you add the chocolate powder. Both of us were moaning with delight over our desserts and hot coco, good thing we sat upstairs away from the crowd. We were SO full afterwards, even with the walk back to the train station. I made Megan walk back and forth on the train platform in the hopes of burning off some calories. Wishful thinking on my part. Great day, inspite of the rain. My memory of this place will be the beautiful cathedral and our food fest......

My first washing machine experience

I had to do laundry today. Easy task at home. Not so easy here. THe machines are in the basement of the building and 5 flights of stairs! Megan assured me that it was easy. Ofcourse she told me later that she just pushes random buttons! The washer is not top load like I'm used to. Also, there were no knobs like I'm used to. AND the words were in german. There was a machine next to mine that were running and I was trying to see where the knobs where set at. I was able to imitate the celcius but the rest was a mystery. I decided to push a green button to see what happen. Luckily it was the right on. There was an indicator that shows the minutes. At first I couldn't find rhyme or reason to it. The numbers were going up and then eventually it started to count down. It didn't look like there was much water so I couldn't tell if it was working properly. I finally figured out that I pushed the righ button to start it although I just went with whatever settings the machine had before. The dryer was the same situation! The knobs were not familiar and ofcourse all in german. Again, I just pushed a random button. It worked out fine but I think it was just luck! I really thought they should have posted some signs in english!

What? I have to pay to use a shopping cart?!

Living here I knew I would make some bonehead american moves and yesterday was an occasion. Went grocery shopping at another store down the street. This time I wanted to use a shopping cart so I don't have to carry the weight until I have to. I went to grab a cart and saw that they were all chained together. I kept looking for a mechanism of some kind to unlock it but couldn't. I was trying to be inconspicious and not look so stupid struggling with a cart. I might as well where a sign that says "I'm not from around here!". I remember my first night here I went to REWE market and tried the same thing. Again the carts were chained together but at that late of day I thought they were just putting the carts away and chained them together for the night.. I didn't think much of it and just went and got a basket instead. Anyway, here I was in the same situation except it was early in the afternoon and there were people around. I was getting frustrated struggling to pull apart the cart when a man passed me with his cart with the intention of putting it back. I thought, perfect, great timing. I made the motion for him to give me his cart. At home this happens sometimes when you are done with your cart and someone is coming in and just takes your cart from you. Well, this man wouldn't give me his cart and again I made the motion for him to give it to me. He kept moving to put his cart away and I thought what a mean german he was. Why couldn't he just give me his damn cart! He was saying something to me but ofcourse I couldn't understand a word of it. He was smiling when he showed me that by putting his cart away he got a coin back. Oh, DUH! Apparently you put in a coin to get your shopping cart and you get the coin back when you put the cart away. By then I was too embarrassed to figure out exactly how much you have to put in since there were more people now. I just nonchalantly went into the store with the intent to just using the basket. Well, wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find a damn basket anywhere. Great, it's going to be a pain carrying my stuff while I shop. It was a sign when I couldn't find a lot of organic fruits and vegetables in this store. I decided to go back to REWE where at least I knew my way around and there was a basket for me to use. Oy vay, some of the simplest things are not so easy here. Next week I am determined to figure out the shopping cart and will bring lots of different coins with me!

Friday night out on the town

Megan and I were meeting Stefan for dinner at 8 and then meeting Emrah at a dance club at 11. I was actually the one to recommend the restaurant Da Noi (italian) since I've been there with Parker & his family 2 weeks ago. The only problem was that Parker had picked me up in his car the last time and we did not know how to get there by tram. Megan is only familiar with the U74 tram which takes you to Old Town and the shopping street. Stefan gave me instructions on which tram to take and told me that because of construction it was going in a different way but will eventually dump us by the restaurant. Well, not so simple. I missed the part where Stefan told me that the tram will back track looking like it's going the wrong way. Megan & I were not familiar with the routes of this tram and when it looked like it was going the wrong way we decided to jump off at the DD Bahnhofen and took a taxi to the restaurant. How embarassing, it only took about 5 minutes. Stefan said if we had stayed on the tram it would have been the next stop!!

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner with great food. It was fun to talk about our different cultures. Megan goes back to the states in 2 weeks after a 3 mth assignment in DD. I can see that this experience has changed her. I was so impressed with her handling herself in such a foreign place. She told us hilarious stories of some of her experiences here, especially with the apt manager.

After dinner Stefan drove us to Ratinger street. I had no idea where we were going but Megan has been there before. We were supposed to meet Harald & Emrah & their friends there later that night. After parking the car in a garage we walk through this very long dark alley. In the distance I can hear so growing roar of people. It was very surreal because it sounded like a rush of people getting closer and closer. It turns out that Ratinger is a popular cobblestone street lined with bars. The sidewalks are packed with people hanging out and drinking beer. Stefan explained that the crowd of people aren't waiting to get it. They are hanging outside. It was wall to wall people and we had to walk in the street to get through. It was so loud! This is the street where the locals hang out. A couple of street over is the Alsteadt (Old Town) and that's where the tourists hang out. It's also a popular place for bachelor and bachlorette parties. Apparently it's tradition for the groom to be to dress up in outrages clothing. Megan assures me that I will see men in women's clothing tonight. There were broken glass from the beer bottles on the ground, people walk around with bottles of beer in their hand. I can only liken this scene to madri gras, it's crazy.

We eventually walked along the Rhine river where there were, again, hoards of people. There was live musis and people sitting along the steps leading to the river. It was so nice out. Stefan showed us how to tell time from the blinking lights of the Rhine Tower (168m). In this small area they call Old Town there are over 260 bars, restaurants and cafes. Somehow these places are packed and overflowed with people. Where are they all coming from? I think it's because of the nice weather. We in AZ take for granted the sunny days and nice weather. The summer here is short and that why we used to say that all of europe seems to take off the month of July & August. Soon enough it will be cold and rainy!

Stefan parted ways with us by 11:30 in order to go pick up his wife from work. By that time we hadn't heard from Emrah, not sure what happened. Megan & I decided to go into Schlosser to check it out and perhaps find the guys. It was pretty crowded and I was feeling a little claustrophic. It was a younger crowd so I was feeling a little out of place. I was texting H- to see where he was. This morning I got answer from him saying he was looking for us as well. Oh well, bad planning. We had enough and left before 12:30, it was way past my bedtime!

1st day in the DD office

Good thing I had Megan walking to work with me yesterday morning. THe whole campus is frickin confusing even with a map! The campus spans approx 1 mile wide and 2 miles long with over 100 buildings! To give perspective our building in AZ is about 500-600 people while this site has about 5,000 people! It's like a little town in itself with 4 separate cafeterias throughout. People use bikes to get around.



SO, even though I mentioned that my apartment is right next to hkl it takes me about 20-25 minutes to get to my building. I was so amazed during our walk to the office, like a kid on first day of school. There are office buildings mixed in with the plants and you have to watch where you are going because there are trucks and fork lifts moving around. I was supposed to pay attention to where Megan was leading me but keep getting distracted by my surroundings. This is where is all began. SOme of the buildings were made of brick and built in the early 1900's.



How lucky that Megan works in the same building as me. My department is on one floor of an old brick building. Each office is shared by 2-3 people. I share mine with Guido who took a vacation day. I met a few of my team mates and all were very nice. We all went to lunch together to the North Kasino (they call the cafeterias kasinos). It's all very high tech. The cafeterias do not accept credit cards or cash. You take your employee badge on a atm looking maching where you scan it and deposit cash into it and then your badge is used to pay for your lunch. The food offerings were many and very good. Funny that the special of the day was cheeseburger and fries. You can bet that I did NOT get this. I had a nice salad and a plate of rice and chicken. All 4 of my colleagues got the burger special! During lunch I noticed that they were all eating their burgers with a knife and fork. What the?! Trust me, it wasn't a small White Castle size burger but a good size burger with lettuce & tomatoes. Emrah was part of the group and I know that he didn't do this when we ate at McDonalds last week. When I asked them about it they told me that it was because of the professional environment that you would do this differently. Boy, it was a good thing that I didn't get the burger because I NEVER would have thought to eat it with a knife & fork. It's just not right. It was really funny to see, you had to be there. I've learned that when eating you should have your knife and fork in your hands the hold time. It's not proper to cut up your food and then just eat with your fork.



After lunch it was customary to have a coffee or expresso. We have a little kitchen on our floor with an expresso machine with the little cups. After lunch Emrah & I had a quick plate of chocolate cake & coffee. There was even a dishwashing machine for our cups/plates/silverware that the cleaning crew takes care of. No, they don't use paper plates & plastic forks like we do at home I guess that would not be to civilized!



After lunch Megan came down so we could buy our train tickets on line to Aachen this Sunday. You have to buy your tickets on line but it's so easy and user friendly. It will be a 1 1/2 hour train ride to the town of Aachen which is a recco from my colleagues. It was only $36 euros rountrip. The pictures online is so pretty I can't wait to see it. We surfed the net a little bit and realized the reference to spa town means that we come to take in the natural thermal springs (referred to as bath houses). There are "spas" that channel these thermal waters into pools. It looks a huge public jacuzzi. Unfortunately Megan had already packed her swimsuit away and is not to keen to sit in these bath waters. Aside from this there will be plenty for us to see.



I introduced Megan to some of my team mates and she thought they were very nice and very friendly. We made plans for that night. Dinner with Stefan and then meeting up with Harald & Emrah later at a club. Let's hope I can stay up late enough for that. For those who know me, Friday night is not a good night for me to stay up late!



Marietta came by to chat. She came from Bulgaria and is new to hkl. I think she was glad to have another girl in the dept. We made plans for dinner next week since she is off to India the following week for her assignment.

After work Megan took me to the farmers market by the Holthausen tram stop which is close to our guesthouse. We each picked up a boquet of flowers for our apt. I was so happy to do something as simple as buying a bunch of flowers on the way home from work. I also bought some fruits. At these stalls the fruits are not prepackaged and you don''t take what you want. There's someone there to give you what you want. The only problem was we didn't know enough german to ask for what we wanted! How the heck do I say half a pound?! In the end I just pointed and the girl would start putting the grapes/cherries in a paper cone until I put up a hand for her to stop. OMG the cherries were twice the size at home and the grapes were so sweet. I should have bought more.

I've been assimilated!

One turning point today. I converted my laptop to the military time AND I've changed it to the european number format. I got tired of running reports and having to remember to change it to the european format which is the opposite of US format (commas for decimals and periods to represent thousands). No matter which country I am in, the rule is that we use the european format for numbers and dates. I did some powerpoint slides with figures today and gave to G to proof read. OMG I got so screwed up. I had commas where I should have had periods for some but not all numbers. It is REALLY hard to re-train your brain on something like this. At least I have gotten comfortable using the european date format, ie, today is 13.8.10.

Today at lunch I ate curry wurst for the first time. Last Friday we ordered our lunch for the week. It's such a strange set up. You get a menu with about 4 choices for each day. Each day they deliver the food at a certain time. They provide the company with a warming oven the size of a small fridge where the food is kept hot. I swear the hot dishes looked exactly like a tv dinner. It's a foil container separated by sections. By the second week we learned not to be too adventurous and stick to the salads which are not bad. We don't get any drinks and it always comes with a yogurt for desert. Ofcourse I don't want to be rude and always eat whatever's in front of me but there were days when I really didn't want to eat that yogurt. Anyway when we were ordering the food Guido saw they had curry wurst today and convinced me to order it. It's one of his favorite dish and he said it was very traditional food. I couldn't get my head around sausage in curry but decided what the hell. When we got it I realized it was like a hot dog in gravy sauce! There's a hint of curry but it's not like the curries I've had in Thai or Indian restaurants. Stefan thought I was brave to order this dish at the plant. He said if I liked it then he will take me to a much better place in Ddorf where they make really good curry wurst.

We had a great final meeting today with all involved and it went very well. Everyone felt good about the work we've done in the past two weeks. Afterwards Guido asked for feedback from the rest of our team on what we thought about this experience. I was so greatful that my first assignment was such a great experience. I learned so much more than if I started in the office. We complimented each other very well. Each brought a different strength to the table. Guido is only 28 but had a doctorate in supply chain. Emrah and Stefan each have masters degree. I was surrounded by very smart people! Each speak at least 3 languages and are so skilled. At least I felt useful helping them with english grammar when we are writing our report although our biggest argument was over the question of using a comma before the word "and" in a sentence. Stefan studied for year in Indiana so his english is very good (although I told him this doesn't count because it was in Indiana).

I was thinking that typically when I start a new job I at least get a few weeks to get situated. I learn locations of the bathroom, coffee room, order some office supplies, sit in meetings where I have no idea what's going on, and set up orientation meetings to meet people and gradually get up to speed. Well, that was NOT what I got with this job. First day was on an actual assignment. My team mates did not coddle me. Guido who is my "mentor/trainer" asked me from the beginning to take the lead in some of the interviews and write some to the chapters. Since he had no qualm asking me to do it I just did it. I am no where near their speed but catching on. Guido is so patient and is very good at training me. I feel so slow when I'm around them. He makes me do something on my own and then will give me feedback. I guess it comes from his experience at teaching some classes at the university, did I mention he's only 28?! I'm trying to picture some 28 year old guys in the states and think how far behind they are in maturity.

Today I did research on my next assignment in asia. As lead for this, I do all the upfront coordination and research. Not just about hkl company in that region but also about the country, the culture, the economy, the politics, and the history. I did not know that Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895 to WWII.

We were glad to be going back to DD today but wouldn't you know it, dinner at McDonalds on the way home!! OMG I am going to gain 10 pounds before I come back to Phx in October! We really didn't have a choice since there's nothing along the way. This has got to be the last time I eat at McD! AND I need to stop the coffee habit even though it tastes so good! When we met last Sunday at the office I noticed that there was an expresso machine in our little kitchen. Not good.
And they really like their carbonated water here. I like it but try not to drink too much because of the sodium content. I also have to get used to getting drinks at room temperature. You usually don't get ice in your sodas or water.

Going into the office tomorrow, I can't wait to meet the rest of my colleagues. I think on average at least a third of them are out on an assignment at any given point in time. The hkl campus is so big and confusing I have no idea how to get to my office. Megan was nice enough to walk with me to work tomorrow. This should be interesting!

Last night in Bad Oeynhausen

Last night at dinner I got a pat on the shoulder from the guys. Usually they help me translate the menu and order for me. I started to ask S- to ask them if I could order the fish but substitute potatoes for rice. When the waiter came I stopped S- and decided to try for myself. The waiter understood me and the guys were very surprised! Before everyone is impressed with my german all I did was point to the fish on the menu and said "mit jasminreis" klein which means I ordered the small portion of fish with jasmin rice. I had learned that J is pronounced like Y so I really did say it right. Since I've been here I found that the germans do like it when you make an effort to learn their language.

Yesterday morning I went for a walk through town and got some great shots with the morning light. It was quiet with only a few people around. I was amazed at how pretty the town was. We haven't really had time to explore. Our assignment is in Porta which is 20km away and we are staying in the town of Bad Oeynhausen which is known for its spa clinics. Bad means bath and it's refering to the thermal bath houses that are around. It's killing me that I won't have the opportunity to take advantage of the spas!. I keep hoping that I could at least take in a massage at a small day spa around the corner from our hotel but it closes at 8pm. This week we have been leaving the office around 8, then go to dinner and are back at the hotel 9-10pm.

We were doing so great with our time schedule but on Tuesday our boss (who was is in China right now) threw a curveball and made an agreement without the team's knowledge. Ofcourse the guys were so pissed and upset over it. I think it was when they started drinking beer at dinner! Things worked out but it gave me a good learning opportunity on how it was handled.

Tonight we had dinner outside again. The guys talked me into having a caphrinia with dinner. I think I drank a quarter of it and poured the rest into Guido's glass. I thought I ordered spaghetti but instead I got a strange dish of flat noodles with small pieces of beefsteak. Oh well, it was good. Even though our big meeting is not until tomorrow afternoon we felt like celebrating tonight. It was the usual banter with E making fun of the germans and S and G making fun of the Turkish. For now they are leaving me out of the line of fire but I'm not sure how long that will last. Tonight I taught them some more lessons on american slang. I announced my nicknames for them. S- is Bulldog because he just latches on to something and won't let go. He has thick skin because we make fun of him so much and it just bounces right off him. He is our stick-by-the-rule guy but is very knowledgable in all areas. I called E our GQ guy because he dresses so fashionable and is very well spoken. I love his Turkish accent. He didn't understand GQ so we are going to buy him the magazine tomorrow. On the way back to the hotel the guys wanted to stop by the restaurant next to our hotel and have another round of drinks. It was such a nice night to sit outside (in the 60's). I went up to my room and grabbed my dice game LCR. We had fun playing a few rounds.

I have been learning about other colleagues on the team. I'm hoping my experiences with these colleagues will be just as nice. I've learned so much in the last two weeks. All three guys have been super patient with me. They have such a great sense of humour so even though it was a LOT of work it has also been fun. I'm amazed at some of the heated debate and how quickly they cool down and come to an agreement. I guess it's the maturity level but they argue but quickly move on. There's no sulking or holding grudges that I've seen in other working environments.

It's going to be a long day tomorrow. I have a deadline to turn in a document for my asia assignment, we have the final meeting with the site and then have to finalize the report. It will be at least 8pm before we can head back for DD and probably 10:30 before I'm home.

My first accident(minor) abroad!

Monday night we had just gotten back to the hotel and getting our laptop bags from the trunk. I must have laid my hand on the opened trunk for a few seconds while I figure out how to get onto the sidewalk when there's a row of bushes blocking the way. My colleage S- didn't notice this when he slammed the trunk door shut. My first thought wasn't pain but rather a detached thought that something didn't feel right. I was still thinking, did he just shut the door on my hand? S-was ofcourse was horrified and immediately rushed to me to grab my hand to see if it was alright. It really didn't feel extreme pain and was able to close and open my hand. Apparently it shut on the knuckle part of the pinky of my right hand because that was the part that hurt! All three colleagues were ofcourse concerned and kept asking if I need to go to the doctor and I kept insisting that it was fine because there was no blood and I could move my fingers.
G- ran into the restaurant next door and somehow got a bag of ice from them. S- wouldn't let me carry my laptop roll-on bag. I was a little embarrassed all the unneccessary attention. And E- observed the pandemonium with amusement and whispered to me that I could totally milk this for a long time. He was the only one that calmly asked if i was alright and once I said yes he shut up. I could see that S- was very upset about what happened even though I showed him that I could open and close my hand and was ok. It hurt like hell but I didn't want him to feel worse saying that. Meanwhile G was probably thinking, shit, my first gig as assignment leader and there's an on the job incident!

We had made plans to walk to the town center for dinner. We chose a spanish restaurant for tapas and it was so nice sitting outside enjoying a few drinks before dinner. It would have been perfect to order 2 tapas each but apparently there was a minimum of 3 per person. It was a little feast. One of the tapas I chose was grilled shrimp (gambas a la plancha) and I didn't realized it comes with the head on it. The guys weren't too keen on shrimp heads so needless to say I got the dish to myself! The whole night S- kept reminding me to keep my hand on the ice bag. I could seriously milk this for awhile! As it was, the next day, when I was trying to calm the guys down during a heated debate, I just turned to S- and announce that my hand hurt. He immediately shut up and started being concerned about me. It was so cool. I enjoyed it for a few seconds but had to tell him I was jesting. I did tell him that my husband wanted to see him when he comes to visit.

The language barrier sucks!

Yesterday we scheduled a visit to an external warehouse where the people did not speak english. When we toured the facility it was ok but then we sat in a conference room for more than an hour while the conversation was solely in german. I felt stupid just sitting there. Wished I had my BB so I could at least do some work! I was also feeling frustrated I couldn't speak german. I thought back about Gary's comment about this - he thought that there should be a language chip that you can install in your head as needed. Wouldn't that be nice! Better yet, why can't there just be one language per planet! It would make life so much easier. Oh well, enough whining. All in all I was lucky that 90% of the people we had to talk to for this assignment spoke english.

Raining today

It rained all day today. I guess this is the weather the locals are used to. I was told I should carry umbrellas with me at all times because you never know. No wonder the europeans go on vacation in July & August when there are better chances of sunny days. Actually the weather here has been very nice. It has been mostly sunny and in the 70's. Now I understand why few places have air conditioning. I remember being worried when i discovered that my apt did not have ac, neither did our office, or the plant we visited or the hotel.... I am getting the trend! Emrah told me it does not get too hot in germany and if it does the time is very short, so ac is not needed. I keep the windows and the patio door open so it has been fine so far.

THis morning I walked to my favorite bakery down the street. Actually it's the only place opened on Sunday. It's so great to pick up fresh baked bread for the day. Let's forget about my carb intake since I've been here. I also ignored my goal to eat healthy and bought one of those yummy desert. The lady was nice and was explaining to me what each desert was. I thought she would have known my limited german by the way I bought the bread (by pointing to it and said zweit bitte which means two please). As she is explaining nicely what each desert was, I put her out of her misery by pointing to one in random. It turned out to be a sweet concoction of thick custard with peaches on a soft pie crust. OMG I ate the whole thing in 5 minutes! OK, I need to walk more that's all.

Let me just say that the ipad is the best thing ever! I am so glad I bought it and brought it with me on this trip. I have music playing most of the time and have my music library of 5000 songs. I can play scrabble on line with friends and family in the states (I'm totally addicted to Words with Friends). I can watch movies that I downloaded before I left. I can also download pictures into my photo library as I take them. Need to figure out shutterbug so I can post them on the blog. Stefan also has an ipad and convinced me to buy Flight Navigator so we can play against each other.

Did some research on my asia assignment in September. Since I'm leading that one it's up to me to coordinate the workload and also do the little things like choosing hotels and meetings and such. "Unfortunately" due to proximity of the assignment we will have to book a VERY nice hotel near Manila. It's reasonable for expense budget but high by Philippines standard, or so I'm told. I'm coordinating the asia assignment with another hkl colleague who lives in Hong Kong. It's tough with the time difference. I just tried to set up a conference call. My laptop is set to Scottsdale time so I had to make sure I understood it's the right time for where I am in germany and where she is in hong kong. It was confusing!
I already got a note on my assignment in France in October - colleagues from France asking me if I had any dietary requirements. Hello, french food, what's there not to like? I think I'm in bigger trouble there than here with the weight gain. Just remembered that I downloaded Turbo kickboxing on the ipad (have I said it's the best toy ever?!) and have to get into a daily routine. Who wants to diet with so much good food around?! I remember my friend H* saying that she excercises so she can eat whatever she wants. What a great motto.

After one week....

A week has flown by. It has been exhausting but so interesting. I wish I could go into details about my job because that part is so interesting. I know that with each assignment I will see different situations and experiences. We had a prelim wrap up for the general mgr and his mgmnt team on Thurs where we gave him bullet points of our findings and what will be in our report to headquarters in dd. I was told by my team that it could go either way but ours went well and they agreed to the points we made. THe gm was very serious about making the easy changes right away. The plant was very old and originally a brickmaking plant. In parts of the warehouse there were actually catacombs! It was hot & danky when we were going through those part. For those who knows me can imagine how hot & sweaty I got!

On Thursday we had dinner at a restaurant in the city center in bad oyenhausen by our hotel. A had a nice dish of huge grilled shrimp on top of risotto. It was bad timing that Guido mentioned he gained 13 lbs when he started this job, which was only 6 months ago!! Crap, I can see how it could happen, especially when i reluctantly agreed to eat Burger King on Wed so we could get back to the hotel for more work. So junk food along with big meals at restaurants, great bread at breakfast, cheeses, coffee with lots of cream & sugar - I might hit that 13 lb gain in the first 3 months! This morning back at my apt I forced myself to eat a bowl of cereal and a yogurt for breakfast.

Anyway, after dinner Emrah, Guido & myself decided to walk back to the hotel while Stefan drives the car back. The city center was so quaint and quite crowded. The streets are of cobble stones so my rolling laptop bag felt really loud and obnoxious. We stopped halfway to get gelato. It was an afterthought that this was not helping my goal to not gain weight during this assignment! By the time we got to our hotel I realized that the city center was only a couple of blocks away! I will definitely do more strolls and take pictures next week. I also plan to book some massages as well! The main tourist draw for this small town are the spa clinics. I learned that it's not so easy to get massages in DD. They don't have spa resorts like Scottsdale that's for sure!

We left the Porta office at 6 for the 2 hr drive back to DD. Had to stop for dinner at McDonalds midway. OMG, more junk food! I don't remember that last time I ate at McD! Guido loves fast food but at least Emrah is the same court as me and likes to eat decent meals. When we were driving to Mcdonalds there was a strip joint right next to it with big billboards of naked women. What the hell?! We parked our car right in front of the pink door that leads into the club. I offered to take a picture of the guys in front of the 30 foot cut out of a naked woman but they declined :-) I think they said something to the effect of careers being ruined over a picture.

Before dropping off the company car at the hkl campus the guys drove through and showed me parts of the campus including our office building. In a word, it's ugly! Our building looked old and in the same area as the detergent factory buildings. We are not near the big wigs who are in the much nicer part of the campus.

Last night I walked to the grocery store to buy some misc stuff. I needed hand soap and literally walked by it 4-5 times looking for rows of choices. At home there's at least a dozen brand and types of hand soap so I was expecting the same. I finally found something I thought was hand soap. It was in a bottle and it had a pump in it. I forgot to look up the german word for handsoap and was hoping to see a picture or a word or brand I would recognize - no Dial brands here! I also had to buy dishwashing soap and it was mixed in with the soaps for soap for dishwashing machines. Again, no pictures to help me! Then I had to figure out how to buy yogurt, not so easy either! No yoplait brand so I just took a guess. What I bought - Sahne Joghurt lime flavor - turned out to be sooooo yummy! I am going back to get more later! Whew this was a much more challenging shopping trip than last week. I know bread and fruits and veggies when I see it!! They don't have grocery bags here so you have to bring your own. I am SO glad I threw in a recyable grocery bag when I packed. This and my big roomy purse is enough room to carry what I need. Again, I used the basket instead of the shopping cart to make sure I only buy what I can carry home.

It is challenging not knowing german but I seem to get by. I already know a few simple words like please, thank you, days of the week, 1-10. I found that I do like the german language and really do want to learn it. Each day I try to learn a new word and my colleagues have been very helpful. I am confident that I will at least learn broken german within this next year, only because I will not be in germany the whole time. It's also helpful being around people speaking german. Sometimes the guys forget I'm there, or I come into the room later and they are deep in a conversation in german. They try to convert to english after awhile! Now I know how Gary feels when he's in my parents' kitchen sandwhiched between my brother in law while they yak away in vietnamese. SOmetimes they remember he's there and speak some english to him. What a good sport he is to stick to the custom of the men sitting together to chat while the women hang out separately.

I slept for 9 hours! I guess I needed to catch up with my sleep from the past week. This morning I decided to go for a long walk. Put on my merrels and looked on the map with a destination in mind. THe Konigsalle shopping is easily reached by subway but I wanted to see if I could walk there. The long and short of it was I only got half way when I realized I was a little overambitous! I had already walked 2 miles and getting hungry so I decided to turn around. On the way back I stopped in a chinese take out place to pick up lunch. The menu was in german as most are here and I asked the lady if she spoke english. Ofcourse she shook her head! Crap, I was trying to figure out how to say to go in german and I didn't quite have my meats in german yet. Then suddenly I heard the cook say something in vietnamese. what luck! I was then able to talk to her in vietnamese and place my order. I would come back to this place but not too much since they only took cash which makes it more of a pain when I do my expense report.

After lunch I decided to take a quick nap. Well, for the first time I used the eye cover that the airlines give you. OMG, I passed out for two hours! That thing is great! Parker had texted me to see if I wanted to meet him & family earlier to shop before we eat and I only had half an hour to get ready. Parker had been here since June and is doing a 2 year expat assignment. He was my old boss and a great guy. I met his wife Melissa and 5 year old daughter for the first time. We got along great. Parker & Melissa never had a chance to travel so they are so excited about this new adventure. This was Melissa's first time out of the country. I was amazed at their daughter's ability to pick up the language, they actually just got here 2 weeks ago. Parker would tell her how something is said in german and she just repeats it perfectly. The expats have an international school where the kids can go. It's taught in english but they get at least one hour a day of german lessons. It's definitely a different way of life. The tram stop is right in front of their house and it stops right in front of the supermarket so that's house she does their shopping. THey did bring their bmw over from the states and Parker is already zipping around in the city. I was amazed at how quickly he has caught on in the ways of german life in the 2+ months he's been here. Anyway, I was very happy to have a chance to hang out with them. We had dinner at an italian restaurant - Ga Noi. It was sooo yummy, I will definitely go back.

3 more weeks before Gary gets here! I can't wait to see my guy. Last week I booked our hotel in Amsterdam. We'll spend 5 days there. I still have to decide where we want to go the weekend before that. Either Berlin or Hamburg I think.

Need to read over the report tonight. The guys are appreciating the fact that I am a native english speaker as they are using to help with grammar and overall writing of the report. We are meeting at 5pm tomorrow to work in the office for a few hours before driving north to the plant.

Third day on assignment

Assignment is very interesting so far. I could tell by the 1st day that this job is going to be fun. It takes me longer to write the reports but the topics are at least familiar. The days have been grueling so far. We start early in the morning and go back to our room after dinner to continue working. Next week will be much better. The people at the plant are very friendly. They are very shy about their english but I tell them it's much better than mine. It was fine for me since I had no trouble understanding what they are saying. I felt bad that they have to make special efforts to speak english when I am in the room. Last night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant around the corner. Stefan is always helpful with translating the menu for me but this time I told him I could manage since they also had italian on the menu. We talked about age and all three are 30 or younger. Oi vay, I felt old.

Our hotel in Bad Oeynhausen (20km from Porta) is nice but not fancy. Great breakfast. Crispy bread, cold cuts, cheeses, fresh fruits and yogurts. The germans love their nutella! I don't eat much cheese at home but love the local cheeses in europe.

I hate to say that I have become a coffee drinker. I never drink coffe at home because it upsets my stomach and it doesn't taste so good. The coffee here tastes much better and I am liking the custom of a cup of coffee after lunch to give you a boost for the rest of the afternoon. Today at lunch I told the group about employees in AZ have asked for a special area where they could take "cat naps" during their breaks. They had a good laugh and said they don't need a nap, just coffee.

Today we agreed to have a quick dinner at Burger King in order to get back to work. I told them I will only do this once in awhile since it's bad food! Stefan showed me how to eat fries with a small wooden fork. I thought it was funny, who needs to be dignified in a fast food place?!

1st day cont'd

Found a little bakery on my morning walk so ofcourse I stopped in to pick up a fresh baguette. Very happy with this find since everyone warned me that everything is closed on Sunday. On top of that a few doors down was a small florist shop so I bought some fresh cut sunflowers to brighten up the apartment.

I met Megan for dinner. She showed me how to use the tram/subway when we used it to get to Altadt (old town DD). What a difference to the mellow neighborhood of the apartment. It was a bustling area of shops and restaurants. WIth the nice weather everyone was sitting outside and people watching. Megan warned me that this area gets crazy on Saturday nights with party groups. I will have to come back when I'm in town for the weekend. We found a nice french restaurant in the area. I ordered the day's special even though I wasn't sure what it was. There was a 50/50 chance I would like it so what the hey. It was a whole long description in german but what I got was a salad with chicken. Not bad but not great. That will teach me to be adventurous.

Got back just in time to meet my colleagues at 8pm for the drive up to Porta, a small town 2.5 hours north of DD. A group of 3 young guys. Very nice but very different in personalities. We had fun getting to know each other. Two from germany and one from Turkey. Emrah just got back from the mandatory military service. I remember learning about this and always thought it would be a good thing if we had this law in the US. The whole ride up we made fun of stefan who had points against him from a previous ticket and could not afford to get a ticket, so he barely drove above speed limit. 1st day of work tomorrow!