Mohawk Duckies

Wow. Things have been busy lately. Andy started a new job two weeks ago, and has been acclimating to his new position. I've been working on an application for a fellowship and other work stuff. With all of our real life responsibilities, it's been kinda hard to find the time to do random fun things...

Well, all of that humdrum vanished when my friend Emily from high school arrived last Thursday. We've been doing all kinds of fun stuff since she got here: a trip to the opera, visiting Tubingen, hiking on trails, eating Wiener Schnitzel, drinking German beer, experiencing Strassburg, you name it. I'm sure that soon I will get some pictures up of our various adventures, but until then I will post a picture of these cool duckies that we saw at Barensee on Sunday. They almost look like the have little duckie Mohawks on the backs of their necks. Very cool. Turns out they're Mandarin Ducks...at least according to Wikipedia. :)

Mohawk Duckies

I Can Drive (one)Sixty-Five!

Life is full of twists. Long twists, really curvy twists, and the twists that turn you 180 deg. Not the Autobahn; it lacks the latter option (so far as I can tell). I now work roughly 10 miles away from our Wohnung (apartment aus Deutsch) as the crow flies. On Monday I received a temporary vehicle for my job - temporary until I can acquire one for myself. It's a common European brand named Opel, it's diesel, and it's actually peppy. I'm not winning any races of course, but it certainly does the job admirably. Naturally I choose to commute using the Autobahn - who the Hell wouldn't? Besides, when you drive 160 - according to my speedometer - every lane is the Fast Lane.

Back to those twists I was talkin about. I've only experienced two caveats thus far, but they're somewhat important.

(1) If you miss your exit, GOOD LUCK finding a way to turn around.

We don't have "easy exits" where you can just turn around (I think in the US it's roughly 10 miles to the next exit), or those famous "Authorized Vehicles Only" turnaround points. Seriously. If you miss an exit, just give up. Pull over and kick your car tires. It's about as helpful as continuing along the same path, hoping for a turnaround or exit. The solution: You take the next exit and hope you find a gas station that understands English (or you understand Deutsch) - they will explain directions for you to drive through the next twelve towns in order to get to your destination via the backcountry roads... Alas, I'm still learning the details, but that's the skinny. Obviously I try not to miss any more exits. :)

(2) Forget your desire for "buffers" between you and the next car.

Yes, we drive at 160 (or 100+ MPH), but why can't you .. I dunno .. give me a car's length ahead so I don't rub up against ya? Seriously.. I was driving on Thursday and some Benz station wagon clipped right in front of me. He didn't actually touch me, and it's a freaking miracle that he didn't. The action was like a video game. No blinker, no warning, just JOOP! I'm right in front of you. He just kept on happily accelerating, so it wasn't like a Swoop and Squat where he gets in front of me and slams his brakes so that I pay his insurance company a chunk of moolah. All I ask for is a bit of understanding.. Don't pull in front of me without warning; that's all. If I wanted a jerk driver in front of me I'd go back to Chicago.

Das ist alles fur jetzt. Tune in later at the same Bat time, same Bat channel, for more riveting stories about the Autobahn.

Barensee

Andy and I have spent the last couple of Sundays being active in the great outdoors. It's great because there are some really nice trails right by our house. Two Sundays ago we just walked the trails (and took the pictures below), but last Sunday we actually rode bikes. That was really fun. We bought the bikes from another American couple that's going back to the US soon. It was awesome, because we got to go a lot deeper into the trails by bike and realized that these trails are actually infinite! I get the feeling we could bike to Budapest on these trails if we wanted to. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share the pics.... and maybe entice you all to come visit and go for a walk together. :)

These pics were taken at Barensee, very close to our house in Büsnau

He could probably tell it better, but...

...I'm gonna tell it anyway, because it's so unbelievable.

We went on Sunday night to have cake and coffee with a group of German friends. We met this group through our American friends, Bob and Laura. The group consisted of Simone (the host), Sonia, Dirk, Mats, and Aletta. Mats and Aletta (and their adorable 6 mos. old daughter) were new acquaintances for us, and we really enjoyed meeting them.

Anyway, Mats was telling us about how he recently started a new job. The company is American, but the office is just across the German border in France. As part of the new job, Mats was given a beautiful, brand new BMW to drive as a company car. So, on his way back from work one day, driving along the Neckar River, he sees a grouping of birds that are absolutely picturesque. Being a bit of a photography buff, he pulls the car over, hops out with his camera, and walks down the slope to the river bank. After snapping a few pics, he hears a noise. Slowly turning around, he sees his BMW rolling down the hill towards him! He jumps out of the way in time to see this gorgeous new car leap straight into the river. In shock, he watches helplessly as it floats gently downstream, and slowly sinks out of sight.

Can you believe that? I just can't imagine what that would feel like to watch a brand new car sink to the bottom of the river. Apparently the company didn't have insurance on it, so they just had to eat the $40,000 loss. And then a week later he had his first company evaluation meeting! Just crazy. Despite everything, the company decided to buy him another car, but this time they got an automatic one to avoid the possibility of it being left in neutral! :)

The Power of Voodoo.

Who do? You do. Do what? Remind me of the babe.

Sorry. A little David Bowie flashback there. I just wanted to show off the cool Voodoo doll toothpick holder that my mom got Andy for Christmas. We took it over to a friend's house recently, and it got rave reviews. Certainly makes cocktail party appetizers more entertaining, don't cha think?

Soccer: The New Fertility Drug

So, I recently heard that Germany is in the middle of a baby boom right now thanks to the World Cup, hosted here 9 months ago. The theory is that the beautiful weather and exciting performance of the German team led to a euphoria that increased fertility across the board. Just goes to show that all of that money poured into professional sports is good for something. :)

That's one high-tech boombox

Seriously. Since the 1980's have you seen anyone who feels the need to carry a "personal soundtrack" with them wherever they go? I thought the days of perching a boombox on your shoulder, blasting music, and strutting down the street were gone, but today I was proven wrong. Apparently, this is still completely normal to do, just a little more high-tech. Instead of lugging around a bulky boombox, you can just cradle a cell phone in the palm of your hand. Such was the case this morning at the bus stop, where we ran across a young kid coolly listening to music on his cell phone with the speakers at full volume. The '80s are back, my friends. The '80s are back.