May 30

This morning I went to church at the Burgkirche, an Evangelical church that was built Catholic. It is beautiful, and the acoustics for the choir were fantastic. It was pretty full this morning because there was a special dedication ceremony, kind of like a mass profession of faith. I was able to sing along of course and understand most of it. When it came to the Vaterunser I was certainly happy that we learned it from Prof. Pruim. I should probably learn the Apostle’s Creed too. It’s used pretty often, like it is at Immanuel. This afternoon, after I was sure the rain had stopped, I headed up to the Bismarckturm (Bismarck tower) for some pictures. There are many paths, and this time I actually took the one meant for walking up. Just as I was nearing the top it began to rain. Of course I did not think that it was going to rain, so I left my Schirm at home. At first it was light, so I could take some pictures and not really worry about it, but then on the horizon you could see it getting worse. Needless to say, I hung out there for a while. Question: What should old towers on the tops of hills always have? Answer: Tigers in cages of course, just like in the States and around the world. Apparently the guy who runs the restaurant up there thought, “Hey, let’s get some tigers up here for no good reason.” So he did, and so they are. Anyway, I spent some time waiting out the rain and staring down some tigers. Eventually it did stop enough for me to head down dry, very thankfully. Since I got back it’s been threatening, so I’ll probably stay in my room, watch handball and hear every so often about how Lena won the Eurovision Song contest. Actually, that was pretty cool. It’s a very big deal around here because no German has won it before, and she really dominated. Her song “Satellite” has been playing over here nonstop for days now and probably longer. It’s catchy to be sure. This was a good weekend for Germany, with Lena winning, as well as the national soccer team beating Hungary. I got to watch them both, so I’m sure to be up on current events. As far as Germans are concerned those are probably the only things that happened this weekend.

May 29

At around 8:00 today I set out for Mainz. The train from Ingelheim for that distance was a reasonable €4.70, so after figuring the system out for myself I was in Mainz at about 9:17. Mainz is the capitol city for Rheinland-Pfalz, the Bundesland that Ingelheim is located in. It happens to be where Barbara lives, so she recommended I go; as did others, for there are many things to see there. I was able to get a map from a lady at the Deutsche Bahn booth in the Hauptbanhof, and with no idea where I was, I set off stalwartly. It took some walking, mixed with intense map reading to figure out where I in fact was, but after that it was mostly straightforward. The first place I went was to St. Stephan’s church, known for its Chagall windows. The second that I arrived, a motorcade with police escort pulled up and a lot of suits piled out of cars and into the church. I wasn’t at all sure what to make of that, so I just continued on after getting some outside pictures and a short look around. There is a pretty good system of signs here for finding things, so I just kept walking where they were pointing, trying to find things that Barbara had mentioned. I made it to the Zitadelle; I still have no idea what that is. It was directly after this Zitadelle compound/walled thing with modern buildings inside (and after seeing a small Roman ruin) that I managed to finally figure out where I was and construct some sort of plan. One of the more important sights here is the large Dom. It is a catholic church, and certainly one of the more magnificent structures that I have seen. It was pretty cool to tour, and free, so of course I stayed a while. Right next to the Dom is a bustling Obst & Gemuse Markt just full of people, fresh fruits and vegetables. Also near the Dom is the Gutenberg museum. How could I go to Mainz and not visit that museum? At this point, I could have bought a ticket in German, but the cashier had just spoken in Spanish to some people ahead of me, and German before, so I decided to see how her English was. It turns out, very good. She could speak Spanish, German, English, Italian and maybe a bit of Russian. You never know with people here, some can just speak German (or just Turkish, which is far worse for me), and then you have people like her. Anyway, the museum was pretty cool. It had a few of the original Bibles on display as well as a lot of the equipment. I’m not completely sure if they had any original equipment or not. Much of it was in German, and I wasn’t that interested in futilely parsing through a museum’s worth of German to find out. They showed a movie that was stop motion animated to tell Gutenberg’s story, which I could understand mostly from watching what was going on. Good job German film people. After the movie they had a demonstration of a press that was a replica of the first on Gutenberg made. It’s kind of hard to appreciate something like that when I can go back to my room and be typing this. But we wouldn’t be here without that, so it’s important to remember what an achievement that was; and Mainz was the beginning. They’ve got a cool looking Rathaus (city hall/government building) here along the Rhein, and it was close, also natürlich, I went there next. It is very modern looking with all sorts of metal and concrete everywhere. The walk along the Rhein had plenty of benches and was a great spot for lunch. I brought along some apples and a Nutella sandwich. Not having Nutella before was a huge mistake by the way. I asked a guy who was reading one bench down to take a picture with me and the bridge, in German and effectively enough I suppose. The picture was taken after all. After that it was much of the same. I saw Christus Kirche (another cool church), a government building where there was a statue of a large foot. Then there was St. Peters church and I walked by the Nature history museum. Apparently is was Museumsnacht today from 18-1:00, but I really didn’t want to wait around for that and risk missing a train back to Ingelheim. I was already pretty tired and museumed-out at this point, so I took a pass on the rest of them and meandered back toward the Hauptbanhof. For some reason, we were never taught how to order ice cream in German 101, so I was a bit on my own there. It went ok, I just ordered by flavor and price. Simple enough and understandable too apparently. Oh, and it was delicious and very, very, very sweet. There was an internet café that I intended to hit up on the way back. However of the two that I’ve been two I’ve been unsuccessful. Either the cafés here don’t have Wifi (incredibly unlikely) or I’m asking wrong (incredibly likely) or both of the Turkish men that ran them just didn’t like me (also likely). I’ll have to ask at work about that, and send an email to Diane to figure out what she did. I would like to update, that is for sure. After that it was a short trip back to the Hauptbanhof, and with a portable pizza thing in my belly a short ride back to Ingelheim. I wanted to make it back for the soccer game tonight against Hungary, which I can watch because I figured out how to turn on the television. That is in fact what I am doing right now! It will probably be another quiet evening for me. This is ok, I’m tired. I almost forgot to mention the most important thing that happened today: I got to watch a couple of episodes of Stargate SG-1 in German! The dubs were decent, but when you have seen every episode twice probably it’s just not the same. Oh, and by the way, when a goal is scored, horns start blaring all over the city. I think people leave their homes and apartments and sit in there for like five minutes, just honking away.

May 28

Another day, another reaction. Although in this case it was the same reaction; I did it much better this time of course, already having an improved idea of what goes on and how in terms of procedure and whatnot. Still too much to fail at and figure out. I guess there will always be though. Today after work I changed some dollars at the bank. One of the younger managers already knows my name (the one who set up my account), and he made the process much easier for me. Then it was off to LIDL, the main competitor to ALDI here in Germany and maybe Europe. The last two times I’ve shopped, it’s been quite cheap. Some things here are smaller, like bread and some are larger like yogurt, but it seems like groceries are cheaper overall, despite the €/$ difference. I tried to get a book today also, from the store around the corner. Dad had a card in my dictionary from Calvin’s library way back in the day for Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Unfortunately they did not have the book. I’ll look elsewhere, or maybe find another German book to try and read. After talking with Barbara at work today, I’ve decided to visit Mainz for the day tomorrow. I couldn’t get Marc and Joe to go with me, but I think it will be a good experience for me to travel alone by train. At least it will be interesting. I finally figured out my television set today. Apparently when I turned it on before, it was on the black screen channel that doesn’t let it register that the set is on. The French Open is on of course, so it was nice to watch some tennis and hear German announcers. Dubbed movies are popular here too, so I watched parts of some, and some German dramas. A quiet night to be sure; I have to be ready for tomorrow.

May 27

I’ve decided to get to work at around 7:30 every day. Not a difficult thing to do really, the sun (if there is sun) shines in my window as a nice pick me up. My window faces directly south, but still lets in plenty of bright morning light. At work today I ran the reaction for the first time. It’s not too difficult really, but I screwed up of course. We did an HPLC analysis of the starting and ending materials, and I was supposed to take two samples: one at the beginning of the reaction and one toward the end. Of course I did not. Also, I added a solvent, and then waited an hour to add a reactant, when it was supposed to be done immediately. They are really good about things like that though (repeat often: you’re here to learn). I’ll just do it again tomorrow. The unfortunate thing is that I feel like an utter idiot in the lab, and I’m supposed to graduate and do further studies for a Ph.D. in one year. Oh well, it’s been a while since I’ve worked with most of this glassware and these reactions are entirely new. I think once the laboratory protocol becomes clearer for me (I finally learned where and what most of the equipment is called today), things will be better and faster (and I’ll feel less like a child :P). The good part is that my recrystallization went beautifully. I should get a pretty spectacular yield…but who knows? So directly after work I decided to go for another run to Großwinternheim and back (~5km each way). This time I ran farther without walking, and faster too, both good things (it’s been too long). On the way back I decided to head up the hill on the other side of the valley to go to the Bismarkturm, a tall tower on the hill that overlooks the whole valley. Because I was on the run I didn’t have my camera, which is unfortunate. Twas absolutely beautiful and expansive and wonderful in general. As you climb the hill, you first notice that it is very steep, which is wonderful for a workout, but unfortunate for everything else. There are vineyards surrounding the small lane that you take to get to the top; it’s really more of a one way street than anything, with no shoulder, but luckily there is sparse traffic. It turned out to be quite a trek for me, already at the end of my run, to try running, then walking most of it with gasping breaths. The top was certainly rewarding though. I’ll get back up there with a camera, perhaps this weekend to get some pictures. The run down was actually kind of fun, but my calves might not let me out of bed tomorrow, so that will not be so fun. I’ll be honest, when I got back, it was all I could do to walk into the elevator! At least these kinds of pains are rewarding. So in German class, Prof. Pruim suggested that we try some Turkish food while we are here. Luckily for me, there is the Saray Grill directly below my room, on street level. So, when I got back I went down there and ordered myself Döner mit Weißkäse und Salat. It was tasty, very tasty. The Döner is composed of a large flat bun/roll that is cut in two, and toasted with salad, meat and in my case white cheese (Weißkäse). I ordered like I do most things in German, laconically, too quietly and difficult to understand, yet possibly able to be confused for a German (probably not). In this case it was pretty easy because I just had to tell him what I wanted, wait for it, pay then go. I’ll probably be there again for a pizza and other things. It’s a nice little restaurant. The Döner was eaten up in my room, overlooking a portion of Ober-Ingelheim; quite satisfying and a full day to be sure.

May 26

Well, I got to the alarm situation settled finally. I do some calculations before bed based on the current time, and when I want to get up, factoring in the amount of seconds in a minute. Simple, but annoying to be sure. I got to work at 7:30 and kind of continued my figuring out of the German language, particularly the technical part, using LEO.org, a very handy translator. In the morning I went with Barbara to get my bank account set up so that I can be paid. Things went smoothly except that my driver’s license is not a legal document here, so I had to run back to my apartment for the passport. With that set up, I continued my morning as I was before. Lunch was good again with Wurst and Nudeln mit Spinache. It was rainy today, and I was glad that I brought an umbrella with me at the last minute, but a bit sad that I took the most broken and sad looking umbrella known to man. Dirk got a good laugh out of that. We had lunch with his friend from the Analytical department there. In the afternoon I got a longer tour of what exactly is in the lab, and got to start putting my Apparatur together. There wasn’t really time for me to be able to start the reaction but I got the starting material weighed out for tomorrow. It was rainy today and cool, a little more typical apparently. After work I did the usual short nap combined with reading and writing a bit. It’s relaxing and this way I can type on a keyboard that makes sense to my hands, rather than one with the “y” and “z” keys switched, as well as other various punctuational annoyances. I will say however that it is nice to have the “ß,” “ä,” “ö” and “ü” keys directly on the keyboard. Out of annoyance at the alt codes on my computer I just have MSWord auto-correct “ae” to ä, “oe” to ö and “uu” to ü. It works well enough. After my brief rest, I decided to explore a street that I had only been on with Dr. Heckmann. I really wanted to get back to where he had shown me on Monday, and eventually I was successful, only this time with my camera. Today was pretty cloudy of course and a bit darker, so you really couldn’t see the whole valley, but I got some nice pictures featuring the Bergkirche and the vineyards on the hill above Ober-Ingelheim. There was an abundance of snails today due to the moisture and cooler conditions. The unfortunate thing about snails is that they are slow, and they like to hang out on roads sometimes. They don’t for long though. There’s plenty of evidence of that. The city is fun to walk around in, which is good, because eventually I won’t have any more Popular Science to read. I’ll be saving those for rainy days from now on. Apparently my TV isn’t going to work in the apartment, so evenings have been spent listening to German radio. There are quite a few stations that play American pop, so if I get a bit homesick I can always listen to them. I already do listen to them, but so far I’m only the normal homesick, from being nearly alone in a foreign country (not really that true). I like it though, no complaints so far. I’m excited to run the first reaction that they’ve been working on tomorrow.

May 25

Today was my first day at Böhringer, and it was certainly a well filled day. I arrived at gate three around 8:45 per request of Dr. Heckmann, and got a provisional ID card which I would trade in shortly for a more permanent one. I first met the members of his lab and got a short tour of the equipment. We work in a very nice lab, the equipment is all top notch, as are the people. Today there were only two others with me in the lab: Herr Kemmer and a girl whose name I cannot remember, but had better get soon, she’s already gotten me coffee. Herr Kemmer (Dirk) and Dr. Heckmann speak good English, but she doesn’t really; it’s ok though, because now I can practice my German better. I went around with Dirk for the better part of the morning, just visiting various departments that they have contact with and meeting a host of people. I only remember maybe two or three names though. Sad day. The Cantina (mensa or cafeteria) is fantastic. I paid ~2.5 Euro today and had a very nice lunch. It’s good food, and relatively cheap too. It will come out of my “salary,” or I can put in Euro like I did today. During the afternoon I worked on deciphering the technical details of the synthesis step I’ll be working on tomorrow. Luckily many of the chemicals are similar enough to English, unfortunately most of the technical terms are not, and have to be learned. Oh well, good stuff. I’ll be working with a part of a drug that they have been working on since Diane was here last year, and maybe longer, who knows. I’m not supposed to say much about what I’m doing, so I’ll err on the side of caution and not really say anything. This will be tough, because I’m excited about it! I’ll have internet access at work, and might be able to blog from there, but til then, these posts will just stay on my computer in .docx format. I hope to find a way to get them up, as well as pictures. They others left at a bit after 15:00, so I did too, after talking with Dr. Heckmann for a bit. I went home and lay on the bed, reading through my old Organic Chemistry documents that I saved meticulously, to try and refresh my memory, somewhat helpfully. I really wish I had decided to bring my book now. Oh well, I’ll probably be fine. After a brief snooze and read, I got up at about 18:00 for a walk to ALDI. It isn’t actually in Ingelheim, so I ended up walking the better part of 4 miles to get there and 4 back. ALDI here is just exactly like ALDI in the U.S. The carts here require 1 € coins instead of a quarter though. I shuffled around the store awkwardly for a while trying to find a box and attempting to look like a normal German person. I think I looked more like a psychotic mute though. Eventually I emptied out a mostly full box of spaghetti and filled it up with some necessities: milk, detergent, spaghetti, sauce (they only had an extra hot variety, this will probably be a bad experience), lunch meat and cereal like Frosted Flakes. The walk back was “fun” and I got plenty of stares from drivers and others as I carried my groceries the miles back to my apartment. By this time it was getting dark and threatening to rain, so I stayed in and read a bit, looking up German words from my antiquated dictionary that Dad and Aunt Shirley had when they lived at home (there’s a Calvin College book slip in there for Kafka’s Metamorphosis from the 1600s. It’s raining now, so it will be cooler (read: normal) tomorrow than the warm and sunny days we’ve been having since I arrived.

May 24

I kind of figured out the alarm system last night/this morning. My clock radio operates in 36.2 second minutes approximately. This is rather unfortunate, and I’m sure it has something to do with the way these types of clocks use the AC frequency to tell time. Anyway, if I set it back far enough the night before it works fine; the cell phone works well as back up too. I got up and made it out the door around nine for some exploration before I was to meet Dr. Heckmann for lunch with his wife and child. First I explored the area coming into Ingelheim from the east. I managed to find a nice path that runs along the river Selz. It was quite nice, and reminded me some of the Kent Trails, with its similar traffic and woodsy/residentially look. I walked it for a bit before heading back and walking up the hill that is Binger Straße, the main street in Ingelheim, on which my apartment is located. It is a nice little town with a lot of traditional buildings that you might expect in a Dorf. Quite cool actually. At the top I sat down in the shade of a fountain for a bit, watching an older lady walk around some of the buildings nearby before settling down for a cigarette on a bench. As I headed back, the bells at St. Regigius began tolling loudly and for quite a while. Today is of course Whit Monday, or Pfingsten in German, which is a holiday celebrated by Catholics here, and observed by everyone. I passed many elderly Germans strolling into the church as the bells regaled all of Ober-Ingelheim. On the way back I crossed the street to explore a small park that I had noticed on the way up. It turned out to be a war memorial for those from Ingelheim who had perished or been lost in the World Wars. It was sponsored by the founder of Böhringer, and was a quiet, very shaded place. As I entered it was really rather magical, as blossoms from the trees overhead were drifting down from the breeze rippling through them. Dr. Heckmann would later tell me that there are many of these, even in the immediate area. The wars were very much a reality for the Germans, for whom they took place around. After my stroll, I retired to my apartment for a short nap and some reading before I was to be picked up. He came to get me in his Volvo wagon, and took me through the cobbled streets to his flat. It was in a building that had been repurposed several years back from somewhat of a useless space into a thriving flat. We took a walk before dinner to see some of the sights of his part of Ober-Ingelheim. We stopped at a now-Protestant, then-Catholic church with epically high, ornate ceilings and medieval wall still surrounding it, topping out at about 5 meters. The church had an old graveyard, which was quite interesting to see, and hadn’t been used since the fifties. Very much overgrown, it was host to a variety of antiquated grave stone designs, among which were some quirky-looking, tower-like markers. After the cemetery and castle look-see we headed up the hill on a paved path in the middle of a vineyard. Ingelheim is the Rot-Wein-Stadt of course, so wineries and vineyards abound on the slopes of the valley. I’ll have to make it up there again and next time take some pictures because the view is quite magnificent and expansive, covering the whole valley really. Eventually we entered the city again, and walked by some remains of the old city walls, now serving as walls for private residences. There are towers that were part of the wall that you can see from time to time, with roofs like dunce caps jutting up from their stocky bases. Typically they are integrated such that they are the middle of a circle junction, like in Standale, quite creatively methinks. We headed up on one of the nicest looking, most traditional streets in the city, passing a Bäckerei/Konditorei on the way back to his place. People drive quite quickly in places where it seems like they really shouldn’t. By the way, in case you wanted to know, Ausfahrt (exit) and Einfahrt (entrance) are used interchangeably for driveway in German (now you know), but certainly not on the highway. Dr. Heckmann’s flat is very bright, open and inviting, with wood floors and window-walls looking out into the valley a bit, because of the absence of a building. I got to meet his wife and child, who were both charming. His daughter is around 8 months now, and very much enjoys guests. She is quite the smiler, and talker, sporting a growing red mane…perhaps not mane yet though. The Heckmanns were making Wiener schnitzel and potatoes, with a nice salad to boot. This was my first experience with any sort of schnitzel, and it was quite fantastic. I didn’t expect the lemon for it, but it is certainly a must. MMMMMMMM!! It is good! The Heckmanns are wonderful hosts, and fun to talk to. After dinner we had coffee flavored ice cream with fresh German strawberries atop it. Certainly very tasty. The little one started getting fidgety (she’s been having some stomach aches recently), so Mrs. Heckmann retired her for a nap. I talked for a while with Dr. Heckmann over cappuccinos with hand-made foam, and the little brown sugar chunks that Prof. Pruim talked about during our Ostfriesch Teestunde. We talked for quite a while, about just about anything (ALDI is a German company owned by two very rich brothers, and since stores in Germany typically close around 8 p.m., so do the ones in the States: it all makes sense now). After a bit, he took me back to my apartment where I relaxed and read for a few hours. At five, I decided to take a run along the Selz River to see some more of the place. It kept on getting longer and longer, so I turned it into a jog/walk for the purpose of not collapsing. I ended up running all the way to the next city/part of the greater Ingelheim conglomerate south: Großwinternheim. Actually, I kept going for a while even after that, but eventually stopped in order to make it back before dark (with plenty of time I might add). The countryside is gorgeous, and I wish that I was able to take some pictures. If I get a bike, there will certainly be some pictures taken, because I will be tearing that path up. There were some sheep grazing, and plenty of barns with all sorts of horses as well (you’d like this area Katie). Things were being grown everywhere, grapes and everything else too, quite green and verdant. The path was well used by bikes and walkers/runners alike. As I expected, there were very few nods or greetings, but I did get some “hallos” from a couple of groups of elderly bikers. When I reached Ingelheim on the way back I decided to head further north to explore the path there as well. When crossing streets, you’re supposed to wait for the red man to become green and be in a walking position (sadly these are not the East German inspired little men that I was hoping to see). Well, I was waiting for the little man to turn, and he never did, though some cars stopped, so I decided to cross anyway. Apparently I did it too slowly or did something else wrong because I got a honk from the owner of a black Golf, some angry shouting and some hand gesture before he sped away. Oops. The path north took me to the campus of Böhringer, and I walked around a little bit, eventually coming to the place where Dr. Heckmann showed me yesterday. I walked back to the apartment through the train station where I stayed for the night, listening to music, reading, and of course writing this. Tomorrow I start at a little before nine. I can start whenever I want after that; I’ll probably stick with seven or eight, not sure yet. Oh, and apparently I need a German bank account to get paid with. I’ll probably get some groceries and look into a phone and bike tomorrow; I’m pretty excited, we’ll see how this goes.

May 23, 2010

Sorry this has taken so long:

We got to the Gerald Ford Int’l airport at 2:45pm, after Tim’s open house and met with Joe and Marc’s families. On the way up to the gate, we saw Robin! Unfortunately he had to get a different flight back to L.A. for his Jubilee Fellowship. I hope he made it. At 4:00pm we were able to go through customs and board our flight on time at 4:30pm. It was a quick and uneventful flight to Chicago, where we had to wait until 7:30pm for our Frankfurt flight. We played a few too many games of B.S., then boarded on time. On the flight I sat in the aisle seat, next to a couple of older Turkish men. For the longest time I was trying to understand what they were saying, as practice of course, not to be a snoop . It turned out that they didn’t speak English or German; the one next to me understood enough German to tell me that he was from Ankara, Turkey. The only way I really ever figured out that there was a language barrier was when he “asked” me by saying Frankfurt and pointing to the map, that he wanted to know where Frankfurt was on it. I suppose any German or English speaker would be able to read the name Frankfurt on a map (or maybe his eyes were bad, who knows). The flight passed uneventfully; Joe and Marc sat behind me, surrounding a serviceman who was stationed in Germany (not Heidelberg though). It was kind of strange when we got to Frankfurt though because the map and all instructions switched directly to Spanish, which was fine with me, but strange. We were able to have our passports checked very quickly, and found our bags with ease. Of course none of us really knew where we were going, but we followed the crowd out well enough and made it out. Both of our people were there to pick us up. Joe and Marc had two TRW employees, and I had my driver, Herr Mika. Unfortunately, Herr Mika seemed in a hurry, so we left without saying goodbye at all. We’ll catch up later, probably next weekend though. Mr. Mika drives a nice Mercedes station wagon (don’t remember the model), and drives quickly, which was fun. Maybe that was an understatement; it was fantastic to fly along the highway like that, just shooting past cars as fast as you like. I think we were averaging around 180 km/h. I was a happy camper. On the way, I spotted a Chevy, Malibu maybe, but was pretty surprised: why would you buy American when you can have a Beamer, Benz or Bentley? During the course of the ride to Ingelheim, I asked him some questions about Germany and cars; his English was of course very good. I think I might have offended him though. I said, “Die Landshaft ist sehr schön,” which he didn’t understand at first (expecting English), so I said, I’m sorry, my German is terrible. Then he said, something to the effect of “my English is good,” making it sound like I insulted him for speaking German. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t insulted, but it should at least be noted that my initial attempts at conversation have failed (Turkish men and driver). In Ingelheim we stopped to get the key to my apartment, at Tor (gate) 1, before heading over. I signed his paper that said he had completed his task, and he was off. Apparently he works for whomever, but most of his jobs are for Böhringer. It took me entirely too long to figure out that the doors open inward and how to figure out the key situation, but eventually I got through three doors and into my third floor apartment. It is quite small, but very nice, clean, and bright because it was very sunny and warm today. Apparently yesterday had less than wonderful weather. They furnished me with some food because of the Sunday (no shops open) and Monday being a holiday (still not open) situation. Nutella, bread, cereal, milk and fruit! Yes please! I got to unpacking pretty quickly after surveying the place and taking some pictures. From my apartment windows I have wonderful views of the valley, known for its red wine production. Instead of exploring like I thought I might, sleep suddenly sounded like a better idea, and was a very good choice. After sleep and some relaxing reading of the finest magazine to grace the earth (Wired), I heard a buzz. Now, having not lived in an apartment before, I didn’t know quite what to do. It was far enough away that it wasn’t necessarily for my apartment. I went outside to the balcony and looked down, to see a man in a red shirt looking at the door and peering inside. I looked for a bit longer before deciding to go inside and find some sort of way to let them in. Very luckily I was able to figure out what to do, because it turned out that the man was my boss/supervisor Dr. Heckmann. I like him already; he has an easy demeanor, is modest and very intelligent. He showed me around a bit of the area, where the train station was, and how to get to work on Tuesday. We tried to find an internet café or something, and ended up with a T-Mobile payphone because that café that was there had closed...sad day. I am very thankful to Karla Veldink at this point, for the Euro she changed for me and the converter I am renting from her . Those coins came in very handy, and I was able to talk very briefly with the family (Papá, Mamá and Grandma P). I think on Tuesday I should be able to buy a phone to use here. Tomorrow Dr. Heckmann is going to pick me up for dinner at his apartment with his wife and 8-month old. He is a very nice man and I’m sure will be great to learn from. On a side note, my alarm clock that I have plugged into the converter is moving at between 1.25-2x speed likely because of the frequency difference in the current here. Probably going to have to rely on the cell phone alarm, which might not work either because it has no service and the wrong time. We’ll see how this goes; I might just have to buy a cheap alarm.

Groundwork

I'm in the pregame stage right now. Exams finished up this morning, and now I have to pack. Saturday will come very soon. A few details:

Leaving: 22 May 2010

Living in Ingelheim am Rhein (West Germany, near Frankfurt am Main) and working for Böhringer-Ingelheim, an international pharmaceutical company. This is their headquarters. This is through Professor Nielsen in the Engineering department at Calvin. He has a contact in the company (Dr. Samstag), and for the last 6 years has sent a Calvin student to work there. I'll be working in the Chemical Process Development section of the Pharmaceutical division under Dr. Heckmann. I'm not really sure what it will look like exactly, but I'm sure it will be great.

Returning: 31 August 2010

Still not sure about the internet connection situation, but I'll update as often as I can.

Tschüss