New Car

So I've now been back in Iowa for almost exactly three days. I'm slowly getting readjusted to the US. First off it's so unbelievably humid here. Blah.
I'm have a ton of fun playing with the new dog. I'm now definitely integrated into the pack. Lili doesn't bark at me anymore when I come down the stairs or into the house. She even lets me sit on her couch with her and will even sit on my lap to get petted. It's adorable. I'm also glad to report the cat is not ignoring me either.
So as far as things which are now weird, one of the big ones is hearing the people on the radio talking in English (sorry...American) and the large number of commericals. I spend altogether way to much time flipping through stations just trying to find one playing music. In Bonn the commerical breaks were short (10 min or so) and so infrequenty that when there was one, I'd say to myself "komisch, Werbungen" ("weird, commericals"). It's also odd to be speaking Iowan again rather than my European Englsih. When I listen to myself I begin to realize maybe my accent is stronger than I thought. Or maybe I'm just way lazy and have my own accent. I don't really know. Anyho!
Last night I met Marcy, Shane, and Aaron for dinner. We had a great time talking about everything under the sun. There was also another "woah, how weird" moment when I went to pay. Between the funny American money, calculating a tip, and not just paying the waiter directly, it was a bit unusual.
But my biggest news at the moment is that today I bought a car. It's a 2006 Toyota Matrix. It's a station wagon with good gas milage and lots of niffty cargo room (yes, not only cargo room, but niffty cargo room). It's also an automatic (ja, ja, Ich weiß. Ein Schaltwagon wäre mehr Spaß, aber Ithaca ist bergisch und ich bin ein Weichei). The color is "phantom gray". I'm still waiting for some inspiration on a name. Speaking of the name. Here's a question for the English buffs out there. Would two Matrix cars collectively called Matrixes or Matricies? Here's a photo with me and the car. Cute huh? :-)



By the way, now that I have a few readers of my blog in Germany, I may be writing a bit more in German. Sorry. Those of you who don't know it will just have to deal with it. I promise what's written will not be important and is likely connected to some inside joke or another.

The Trip Home

Hallo from Iowa!
I made it back into Iowa last night after a very long day.
Two of my friends from Wuppertal came and picked me up in Bonn and drove me to the airport. Like a good American I was ridiculously early. Eventually it was time to get on the plane. To pass the time I decided to listen to a bit of music. Entirely by chance my mp3 player started with the song "Geile Zeit" by the singer Juli. It was from a CD of good German music that one of my five favorite German colleagues had made for me, and also a song I heard frequently on the radio. But I think it was the first time I'd really ever listened to the lyrics...

Ja ich weiß, es war 'ne geile Zeit,
uns war kein Weg zu weit.
Du fehlst hier.
Ja ich weiß, es war 'ne geile Zeit,
hey, es tut mir Leid,
es ist vorbei.

(Ya I know, it was a great time,
no path was to far for us.
You're missing.
Ya I know, it was a great time,
hey, I'm sorry,
it's over.)

At this point I finally had to break out the Kleenex. The plane took off. From the window I got one last glimpse of Bonn and the Siebengebirge through the haze. Fortunetly two World Cup songs were placed at the end of the CD, which put me back into better mood.
I managed to make my connection in Heathrow and arrive just in time to board the plane. The long trip was actually rather confortable, though I never did manage to fall asleep.
My first experience back in the US was of course Customs and Immigration in Chicago. It's amazing that people come into the US at all. What an irritating process. I got to stand in a long lines and haul my luggage around just to be asked if I have any tulip bulbs. Arg. Then there was of course another security check, a couple gate changes, and a delay while they replaced some part on the plane. Gotta love O'Hare.
Finally I arrived in Des Moines. My parents, one of my sisters, and a good friend picked me up. Upon arriving home it was time to start acclimating our new dog to me. In October my parents got a dog that's half doberman, and the half-guard dog in her shows. Right now everytime she sees me she parks and grows. Then after a few minutes she'll calm down, I'll give her a treat, and that seems to pacify her until the next time I come downstairs. Appartly once she likes you the labrador half of her comes out. The good news is my cat is not ignoring me. He's even being halfway friendly.
Now it's time to do some unpacking.

Last day....Letzter Tag

So today's my last day in Bonn, and like every last-day I'm busy wrapping stuff up.
My board won't be finished, so it'll have to be sent to me. My stuff is packed. I've ran the Laufzettelweg (for those of you not in Bonn, don't ask). Now it's a matter of a few good-bye's, which is always the hardest part of the whole thing.
Right now I'm in a state of half-excitement/half-panic. It'll take a few days to get through the transplant shock once I'm back in Iowa, but with enough sweet corn, iced tea, and cinnamon rolls, I'll make it through.
When all goes well (which it will), I should be back in Des Moines at about 9 pm Iowa-time. I'll pop up a quick post to let you know I made it before falling into bed.

By the way

So I'm sitting here at work with nothing much to do since my board hasn't arrived yet and decided to look at CNN to see if anything Earth shattering has happened. I read the following two headlines:

Python eats electric blanket

Jellyfish attack nuclear plant

What a silly world we live in.
Otherwise six days and counting.
I have nothing more profound to say. In fact I have nothing more to say at all.

Roman Holiday

Hallo!
I'm back from my trip to Roma. Rome is really amazing. For being a city full of old ruins, it's still extremely alive, even a bit overwhelming after a while. Though I'm sure the unbelievable number of tourists who are always around when you're trying to be a tourist doesn't help. Anyho! Here is my adventure...
I arrived Friday early evening. It was too late at this point to do much, so I just wondered around the area near my hostel. For a good half hour or so I sat next to a fountain in the middle of a roundabout and watched the Italian traffic. At first it seemed completely chaotic. There were no real lanes to speak of and definitely no clean lane changes with signalling like you see in the US or Germany. But then I started to realize that the system, whatever that maybe, seems to work, because I never once saw an accident.
Saturday was Vatican City day. When I arrived at the Pope's house in the morning there was already a really long line to get into the Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel. After waiting in line for two hours, I finally made it in and rode the wave of tourists towards the Sistine Chapel. I quickly learned that to get the Sistine Chapel you have to go through a series of at least ten or so other chapels and rooms, all of which were actually very interesting, but sadly 90% of the tourists simply looked for the sign that pointed to the Sistine Chapel and kept on going. Finally I arrived in THE chapel and was slightly disappointed. There I was in a mob of hundreds of people taking photographs and talking even though there are signs everywhere saying photography is vorbidden and to maintain silence. The mood of the chapel was completely destroyed. Plus the light wasn't very good. It was just a dark, rectangular room. Ok, so the painting on the celing is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and it was neat, just a little hard to appreciate.
Afternoonish I headed to St. Peter's Cathedral. Here's a photo of it from the outside.



The cathedral is amazing of course. The walls are covered in marble of various colors. The size of the inner room is astounding. Many of the side wings had little cupolas with holes in the middle through which beams of light shined. After walking around the inside I entered the Tomb of the Popes. The most popular of the tombs was of course from John Paul II. Next I got in line to accend to the top of the Cupola. From there you have an amazing view of Rome. Here's one of the photos:



Directly in front is St. Peter's Square. To the left is part of the Vatican complex. The Pantheon is in the middle of the concentration of city off to the right, and the Roman Forum and Coloseum are off the right edge of the photo. The green patch on the left is a big park that I went to after getting my fill of the Pope's city. I then went back to the hostel and rested my feet.
Sunday was ruin day. I headed to the Coloseum first thing in the morning. The Coloseum is as impressive as people make it out to be. First you marvel at the size of it and wonder how in the world did they build it without modern luxuries like cranes. Then you start to ponder the details. Where did the people sit? How did they get into the stands? Where did the people fight and how did they get onto the stage? It's interesting that the basic form is the same as today's sport stadiums. Here's a photo from the inside:



After leaving the Coloseum I headed to the Roman Forum, which at one point was the center of the city. Today there's largely just the foundations of temples, buildings, and churches.


In the background is the coloseum, and off on the right hand side on the hill is the Palatine. It was midday, and as you can probably tell, rather hot. What saves you from the heat are the water spouts placed around the touristy areas. There's a decent chance that you're not actually supposed to drink this water, but I figured if it wasn't drinkable, there'd be a sign.
At this point I headed to the Pantheon. The Pantheon's fame is also well deserved. From the outside it doesn't seem too spectacular, but inside it's amazing. It was originally a pagan temple that was converted to a church. The walls are again convered with marble, paintings, and statues. But what makes the Pantheon truely astounding is the Cupola. It's as wide as it is tall. Where as most Cupolas are decorated with paintings, this one has only a relatively simple geometric relief, and of course a hole in the middle through which a wide beam of light shines.
Now I headed back over to the Roman Forum and entered the Palatine. From what I gathered the Palatine was once the residency for some very important romans. I only wish that I'd had a better travel guide, so I had a better idea of what everything was.
At this point I was tired, sunburned, and dirty and decided to return to the hostel.
Monday I only had a half-day and decided to see a couple smaller churches. First was Santa Maria del Popolo and then San Clemente. Though they were smaller, the mood was much better because they were not completely full of tourists. After buying one last ice cream cone, it was time to head to the airport and return to Germany.
Now I'm starting to get into "going home" mode. I fly back in exactly one week (and a couple hours). Things will be a little tight as far as work goes. My circuit board isn't coming until Thursday, so that doesn't give me much time to get it soldered and tested. And on that note, I'm going to get back to work.

Hi from Roma

For those of you who are keeping tabs on such things, Im currently in Roma, Italia. The trip was pleasantly uneventful. I dont really have anything to report since I just got here.
More later.
Ciao!

Stuttgart ist viel besser als Berlin!

So today is the first day after the World Cup and amazingly enough, life goes on.
Saturday night was the last showing of the German team in the game for 3rd place against Portugal in Stuttgart. The mood of the fans can best be described with the spontaniously created song: "Stuttgart is much better than Berlin!". Basically from the way the fans were celebrating, especially in the stadium, it may as well have been the final game. In the end Germany won 3-1. It was exciting.
Sunday was of course the final. I wasn't really all that enthused. For me the "WM" ended Saturday, but I figured I'd followed it this long, I probably should watch the final. Like most of the German fans, I was rooting for France since Italy knocked Germany out. Sadly Italy won by one penatly kick after normal play and the 30 minute extension.
After this game I like Italian football even less. I further believe that they play dirty and don't have a level of sportsmanship that one would expect from a bunch of professionals at the biggest sporting event on the planet. But in the end we don't live in a Hollywood-style movie, and sometimes the good guy doesn't win. And as someone likes to remind me, it's only football.
Otherwise things are good. This weekend was great. I grilled twice and got to see a couple friends who I hadn't seen in weeks. Friday I fly to Rome for a long weekend. That should be fun.
Have a good week everyone!

Berlin! Berlin! Wir fahren nach...Stuttgart

So until Tuesday the favorite soccer chant was "Berlin! Berlin! Wir fahren nach Berlin!", or in English "Berlin! Berlin! We're going to Berlin!" to proclaim that the German soccer team will make to the final game, which is in Berlin. Sadly that dream died in the 119th minute during the semifinal game against Italy when Italy managed to score. And then it really, really died when they scored a second one in the 121st minute. As the official game time ended at minute 120, there really wasn't time for Germany to counter.
Obviously everyone's disappointed, but noone is blaming the loss on the team. The "Jungs" played very well, and Italy just got lucky and played a little dirty. After the win against Argentina I mentioned that there was a short fight, but nobody cared because they were too excited about winning. Nobody except the Italians, who found photos which showed a German player punching one of the Argentina players, and plastered them all over their newspapers. So after FIFA decided that no action would be taken against German players, they changed their mind in light of the new evidence from a clearly unbiased source. In the end one of the best German defenders was banned from the game. I personally found this to be a totally sleezy, childish thing to do, and that the FIFA believed the evidence from a country which is currently seeping in soccer scandels is ridiculous. But I must admit my opinion's somewhat biased.
Then my love for Italian football decreased even more during the game. Everytime one the Italian players fell down, which occured at a much higher rate than the Germans, they'd make a pained face and roll around hoping a yellow card would come out. I'm sure some of the cases were real, but it happened way to frequently for it to believable everytime. At the same time my respect for the German team grew. When two opposing players crashed together, the German was always the first one up, offering to help their Italian counterpart who's reeling on the ground "hurt".
Ok. I've said my peace.
Like I said, the spirit here has died down a bit. There are already fewer flags even though there's still one game left. Saturday Germany and Portugal play for third place. I just hope the team's back in the fighting spirit by then. Most reports say the players are really depressed, as to be expected, but the German Soccer Association received over 2000 emails from fans with well wishes within one day after the game. Even though they lost, everyone is proud and supportive, and I really hope the Fan Miles are full of German fans on Saturday.
Oh ya...and France beat Portugal last night 1:0, so the final is a matchup between Italy and France.
Don't worry. Soon my posts will be about things other than soccer.
I'm doing well. Work's going well. In one week I'm flying to Rome. And in three weeks I'll be back in Iowa. Craziness.

Here are some pic's from the game:

Here I am dressed up with as a German soccer fan with my American flag.



Here's a photo from the pub. This was during half time, so the people were still in a good mood.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independance Day everyone!
I'm pretty sure I'll be spending more time today waving a German flag than an American (yes, I have one of both) since tonight is the big semifinal game against Italy. Everyone's optimistic. It should in any case be a good game.
Otherwise work's actually going well (knock on wood). Right now I can *continuously* read out data from the master student's project, divide the data into their respective 8 channels, and plot it in real time. Am I cool or what? Ok. So I entire process is not as smooth or efficent as it could be, but it works.
I hope you all have a great and safe 4th of July celebration. Enjoy the parades, grilling, and fireworks. I have my sparklers for after the game, so as not to totally let the holiday pass without acknowledgment.
Cheers!

Tor! Tor! Tor! Tor! Tor!

That is how many goals Germany scored against Argentina to win yesterday's quarter final game. It may be the most stressful game I've ever sat through. First off Argentina scored fairly early in the first half. The German team wasn't playing great. They were making some dumb mistakes, their game was messing so they were losing the ball alot. You could feel the hope fading out of the fans. But then in the 80th minute Klose, the top-scorer of the World Cup so far, evened it out with a header. The crowd was on their feet and all hope rushed back in.
Regular play time ended 1:1 bringing on a nerve-wracking 30 minutes of extra time. The first 15 minutes were dominated by Germany but goalless; the second by Argentina, also goalless. After the 120 minutes had passed it was time for best out of five 11-meter shots. Germany went first...goal. (2:1) Then Argentina...goal. (2:2) Germany...goal. (3:2) Argentina...stopped! (3:2) (Cue insane crowd. I personally was screaming and jumping up and down.) Germany...goal! (4:2) Argentina...goal (4:3). Germany...goal! (5:3) At this point Lehmenn, the German goalie, only needs to stop one more shot. (Wait for it...) Argentina.........stopped! (5:3) GERMANY WINS!!!!! (Cue large amounts of yelling, jumping, and flag waiving.) What a game. Sadly the Argentinians are sore losers and practically started a melee at the end. One player even got a red card after the match was over. Not that it means much but still. I'm not sure what exactly happened. Most people here are too excited about having won to worry about what the Argentinian players did.
Tuesday German meets Italy in the semifinal. Tuesday's also the 4th of July. It looks like I'm going to be a bad American, and instead of celebrating with the stars and stripes, I'll be watching "Fussball" with a "schwartz-rot-gelb" flag. Maybe I'll bring my American flag along as well.
"Auf geht's Deutschland schiess ein Tor, schiess ein Tor, schiess ein To-o-or. Auf geht's Deutschland schiess ein Tor! Schiess ein Tor! Schiess ein Tor!"