Möchten Sie etwas trinken? Bier #1

And the answer is: Yes, you would like something to drink. If it's a Bier you'd like to drink, then you're in luck. Follow me over the next several months to sample a moment with the speculated 5000 German bierhausen.

To all you Illinois Homies out there.. (and Will).. Holla.

Der Rothaus Pils. Very nice. And at 0,61 euros, what a bargain! Check back for my next installment of "Beer with Me."

Gotta love vacation time

I thought I would let you all know that the amount of vacation time you get here in Germany is waaaaaaay more than you get in the US. We recently found out that you get 26 vacation days, not including national and religious holidays - which, by the way, are plentiful. For example, tomorrow Andy and I will be celebrating All Saints Day and thus will not be able to attend work. Actually, here in southwest Germany, the population is about 50/50 Catholic to Protestant, so we get more holidays here than any other region in Germany. How cool is that? Yay for Germany! :)

I want to ride my bicycle, Sherlock Style

Life sans car is good, IMHO, and I feel we're adapting to this nicely. Over the past week we've pedded at least 10 miles. I don't mind, because you gain not just time to think but also a greater familiarity with the environment (bring it, EB). But boy oh boy do I miss my bicycle. Wouldntchaknowit, I can't speak nor write a lick of German, so locating forums for local bicyclists is somewhat difficult. Ich erlerne, aber es dauert Zeit, damnit! Babbelfish only takes you so far.

Luckily there are oodles of bikes here at MPI that appear to lack owners. Today I begin my attempt to locate an abandoned bicycle. I will find one, oh yes, I will find one. And when I do, I'm going to mount my GPS to the handlebar so I don't get lost. At least I'll look super sexy - white-and-nerdy-style.

This goes out to my Homie Joe.

Sonntag im Deutschland

Good afternoon, everyone. Today is Sunday, the proverbial "day of rest". Here, this is actually taken seriously, and the whole town is quiet. Some people are out taking walks or bike rides, but most seem to be at home spending time with family. Almost every store is closed, in an effort to curb any urges to be productive on this restful day.

Deciding to do as the Romans do, Andy and I went on a long walk this morning from Vaihingen to Büsnau. (Vaihingen is near our temporary apartment and is where most of the nearby stores are. Büsnau is the location of the lab, and is the town we'll be living in starting tomorrow.) We figured it would be a good idea to try to figure out the roads between the two places since we'll need to go between them frequently. The trek took about an hour; the first half was walking through neighborhoods, and the second half was on some lovely trails through the woods. So much of the land here is protected, it's really nice. I think Stuttgart is 2/3 forest. Not too shabby for a city of 600,000.

Our big adventure this weekend was trying to get a cell phone yesterday. There's a current package deal where you get a cell phone, home phone, and DSL for one low price. Being the nerds that we are, we spent a considerable amount of time trying to pick the perfect phone, then after literally hours of being at the T-mobil store, decided to sign up for our plan. (Click here to check out our new phone. Sweeeeeeeet.) However, our excitement was short-lived, because we soon found out that T-mobil wants nothing to do with us until we get our resident permits. Gotta love red tape. So, we'll have to come back late next week, after our paperwork goes through. For now, we're content to be wandering nomads, getting lost in the woods. :)

Tschuss,
Blythe

Check out our new pad!

In case there was going to be any doubt, we are officially residents of Germany. We signed a lease on an apartment yesterday. Seriously, we got so lucky to find a place so quickly. It's walking distance to the lab and we have a very nice landlord. He doesn't speak any English, but we've been mustering broken conversations in German with some success. He lives in the first floor of the house, our apartment is on the second floor, and there's a Russian guy upstairs from us. I posted some pics so you kids can see it. Let us know if you have time to come over for dinner. :)

To see the rest of the pics, click here.

Wir will deine Karr pimpen!

So, it turns out we only have two channels in English: CNN news and MTV. You can guess which one we've been watching the most. Unlike other channels where the American shows are dubbed over in German, on MTV they play them in English with German subtitles. So we're learning all sorts of important German phrases, such as "We're going to pimp your ride" and lots of helpful swear words. Should come in handy if we end up in the wrong neighborhood.

Peace out,
Blythe

Herzlich Wilkommen!

Oh my goodness, we made it! It only took 18 hours of travel time and 300 lbs. of luggage. :)

We are doing well here in Stuttgart...just adjusting to the jet lag and re-acquainting ourselves with the city. Apparently my reputation has preceded me, because my first day at the lab I was asked, "Are you really the niece of Al Gore?". Haven't decided yet if I should refute that or not - could be fun.

The weather here is like a crisp fall day with beautiful, multi-colored leaves covering the surrounding hills. I think we're gonna like it here. I missed having hills and forrests while living in Illinois. A girl can only take so many corn fields in a lifetime!

For those who were worried about the kitty, she made the journey just fine. She seems to also be a little jet-lagged, but she's happy to explore a new apartment, and now has a lovely garden view to gaze at each day. We bought her some German cat food called Brekkies, so hopefully she'll like it.

Not too many crazy cultural differences to note so far, except that deodorant here only comes in roll-on and aerosol. Same brands, mostly, just different ways to apply them. Oh, and it turns out they do have peanut butter here, but it's crazy expensive. We've decided to wait on that investment. Maybe Santa will put some Peter Pan PB in our stockings.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Bis später,
Blythe