M&M

So it would seem like I'm due for another post.  Well get comfortable.  I've got some catching up to do here.

To star things off, I have to talk about my first trip to Munich.  I was scheduled to go there for a language course lasting one week.  Classes were roughly 9-4 with a 45min lunch break.  During that week I stayed with a family that collaborates with the firm that I took the course through.  They more or less rent a room out a student taking a course there, with the cost being built into the overall cost for the course.  Work paid for the whole enchilada so I wasn't too worried about that.  Anyhow, I took a train into Munich and it was like no other train I've been on.  First off all, I walked in and saw stairs.  Stairs on a train???  Heck yeah, I'm goin' up!  It was a double decker train.  The train had rows upon rows of bucket-style seats, never more than two per row, with some rows faced towards each other for groups traveling together.  Each seat was generously padded and had a small trashcan, with a lid, at each window seat.  This thing was clean.  The train ride took about 45 minutes but along the way I noticed a few people wearing backpacks.  Not just regular backpacks, backpacking backpacks.  Climbing backpacks, with climbing shoes attached to the outside.  I knew I was heading in the right direction.  I had already researched a few climbing gyms in Munich so I knew their had to be a shop with climbing gear somewhere in this city.  I would be on the hunt.

When I got off the train, I took a taxi to the family I would stay with for the week.  Let me tell you about this taxi.  It is NOTHING like what you would find in Philly or NY.  All the taxi's here are Mercedes with full leather interior.  Some are sedans and some are station wagons.  There is no barrier between you and the driver.  It honestly feels like riding with a personal chauffeur more than riding in a taxi.  The rearview mirror has a few buttons and the meter display, showing you travel distance and fair price in real time.  Lastly the drivers aren't Arabic or any crap like that.  Just regular ass men trying to earn a living.  Not a bunch of dirtballs either.  Anyway, when I got the house I met the man of the household first and was pleasantly surprised by his friendliness.  Combined with strong English speaking skills, I felt very relieved.  We exchanged stories over coffee and I learned that he is an artist for a living.  He mainly does sculptures with stones.  Sometimes the sculptures take up a while wall or room.  Some are meant to be centerpieces inside large buildings or offices.  You know how companies like to jazz up their buildings these days.  Half of his time is spent on his artwork and the other half is spent painting houses.  Gotta pay the bills somehow.  I think it's pretty admirable that he's found a way to live his passion while still managing to be a good provider to his family.

So, the language course.  I took the subway into Munich, which by most counts is very convenient and cheap.  I bought a pass that allowed me to ride any of the subway lines and buses for the entire week for about 13€.  I'd call that a deal.  Once I got to the course, I realized that I would be sitting one-on-one with an instructor.  I expected this.  What I wasn't quite ready for was how much German this instructor was going to spit at me right off the bat.  She started talking at me like I should understand.  When I informed her that I didn't understand, she continued to try and explain, in German, what she just said.  Did you not fuckin' hear me?  NO ENTIENDO DEUTSCH DUMBASS!  Mind you I took a fairly inclusive entry exam online several weeks before arriving.  Upon filing out this exam, I was also asked to indicate my background in German.  ZERO.  So when this lady started speaking to me in German and getting upset when I didn't understand her, I wanted to curse her out and ask her if she bothered to read my file.  Eventually she got a whiff of what I was trying to tell her and she began speaking a little English.  However, the tone remained much the same as she continued to teach mostly speaking German and expecting me to be able to understand.  Since nearly every  word she spoke was new to me as of the moment she spoke it, it took a while before I was able to dissect what she was saying.  This wasn't like any class you'd come across at a university.  I was mostly being talked at instead of getting any kind of explanation.  Since I don't do well with being talked at, it took a lot of self control to keep my thoughts to caged up and just take notes.  Lunch came and I couldn't have bee more happy to escape.  I walked around the block to see what kind of shops were nearby and settled on a sandwich place before making my way back to the class.  The second half of the day was with a different instructor.  He followed a similar pattern of talking German at me except that I could barely decipher his words.  His pronunciation was horrible.  At least I could pick out words when the other instructor spoke, even though I didn't know what they meant.  I had to stop him a bunch of times, but I made it through the rest of the day.

When the next day started off the same way as the first I had had enough.  I needed to set the tone now if I was going to get anything out of this course.  I set her straight pretty quick and she began speaking more English.  The day went much better afterward.  It was a little frustrating when she wasn't able to translate certain words.  I wasn't remembering certain words that she had mentioned the day before.  For instance, she mentioned three words that she said all meant "for" but in different ways.  Well that doesn't help.  How am I supposed to know when to use which one if you can't tell me the differences?  I got pretty pissed off and made a note to look this words up when I got home.  Google translator revealed the secret that she could not explain.  One word actually meant "for", another meant "since" and the other meant "at."  Trusty ole Google.  I informed her of the translations I had found and she immediately agreed.  So why couldn't you explain that yesterday?  Grrrr.  I had a different guy in the afternoon and I much preferred his approach.  He began with some German but actually asked if I understood and then proceeded to go over it, in English, so I could understand.  He was much more methodical about how he taught.  I was much happier.

The rest of the week got a little better.  I still got frustrated occasionally, but that's mostly because I've been trained as an engineer to ask questions until I know exactly how it works and why.  I was looking for a little more insight to how the grammar works and for some clearer, more literal, translations of some words so I would know when and how to use them.  After some pestering and some research I got what I was after.  I continued taking notes and firing off questions when I needed to.  Since they threw so much at me in one week, my plan was to just keep it all organized and then study it later.  It would have been way too much to try and memorize right away.  Note cards and post-it notes have been doing wonders.

So after the course was over around 4, I want walking around Munich.  I wanted to explore a bit.  I was hunting for something.  Mission 1 was to find a French Press.  My flat came equipped with an electric kettle that makes hot water in less than 2 minutes.  With that in mind I figured I didn't really need to buy a coffee maker.  A French Press would be cheaper, doesn't need wasteful paper filters and I'd be able to pack it easily when traveling.  The problem was I hadn't been able to find one in the small town of Waldkraiburg.  I figured Munich had to have one.  So I started off down what looked to be a main strip of stores.  The first store that caught my attention was one selling backpacks.  All kinds, from school bags to handbags.  I came across a 28L Deuter pack.  Since I was in need of something small enough for a bike trip but large enough to hold some gear, I snagged it.  The aluminum frame was nice, but I think the built-in rain cover is what really sold me.  So I checked out, put my books from class inside and slung it over my shoulder.  Onward.

I was in need of a new pair of shoes.  Nothing sport specific, just something comfortable but with a bit of style.  I sure picked the right street because there were a LOT of shoe stores.  I stopped in a few of them, but kept on moving when I didn't exactly what I was looking for.  The first sign of potential came when I stumbled upon a Timberland store.  They had some cool stuff, but I didn't want to make any hasty decisions because I saw a Columbia store just across the street.  They had an interesting selection but I wasn't quite sold.  There was a nice rain shell I might go back for though...  Moving on.

I was making my way a little further down when I was surprised to see a Starbucks.  I didn't really plan on going in until I saw the French Press sitting on the shelf.  HARD RIGHT!  I swooped right in and nabbed it.  I got a coffee too.

My last stop of the day was at North Face.  It was happy to find a few outdoor retailers around.  I walked straight back to the shoe rack and began to assess their stock.  Not too shabby.  I walked around the rest of the store before coming back to the shoes to make my decision.  I walked out with these.

The next day after class I walked down the same street, passing by all that I saw the day before, and continued my hunt.  I still hadn't found everything that I was looking for.  I found a whole bunch of shops that kinda reminded me of Modells or Dick's Sporting Good.  They seemed to have a surplus of your typical sports equipment.  Biking, hockey, running, soccer, swimming etc...  Not quite what I was after.  I was getting  to the fourth sports store of the day when I arrived at Schuster Sporthaus.  Tons and tons of sporting equipment.  Everything you could possibly think of for fitness.  The first floor was covered in Soccer gear.  The second floor was mostly running shoes and clothing.  The THIRD had mountainbikes, roadbikes, triathlon bikes and whatever else you can think of or need for a bike.  The fourth floor was mostly hiking and outdoor clothing.  This is when I started to drool over how awesome this store was.  The fifth floor sent my jaw dropping even further when I saw all the backpacking and hiking gear.  I nearly lost it when I saw the mannequin at the top of the stairwell leading to the sixth floor.  He had a harness on with cams, biners and slings on it!  Racing up the stairs I found what has the be one of the most amazing assortment of climbing gear in one place.  Endless amounts of shoes, biners, draws, slings, rope, and pro!  I'll let the pictures do the talking.  Check out the "Munich" pictures.

After experiencing Munich for a week it was back to Waldkraiburg.  Lame.  Before getting back to the daily obligatory task more aptly known as work, I went on my first mountain biking trip in Germany.  I went with a friend from work and his girlfriend.  We piled in the car at the ass-crack-o-dawn for the 1 hour ride to Rosenheim.  Our intention was to ride the trails around Samerberg.  (berg means mountain).  We ended up doing so without a GPS.  Needless to say, we took a few "unfortunate" turns and occasionally found ourselves attempting to climb what were clearly trails intended for downhill riding.  Oops.  Still a fantastic ride.  The landscape here is absolutely amazing, not to mention a few animals...  Again, the pictures will explain it better than my blabbering.  Check out the "First MTB trip in Germany."

Now it was back to work.  Things are starting to pick up as I'm becoming more involved in the project now.  I've been popping out 3D drawings like it's my job....  But I still managed to get my ass on the track a few times for some workouts.  I was recently introduced to some running trails that are labeled for 5k, 7k, 10k and 15k.  I hit up the 5k trail last week after tacking on 3 miles beforehand.  Next time I'll be after that 10k or 15k!

Now I'm back in Munich for one more week of this dreaded language course.  I did the note-card thing like I planned but I know that I'm going to fumble for the right words when the professor asks me something.  Or I just won't understand what she's saying.  Either way I'll be happier when this week is over and I can continue to learn German at my own pace and in my own way.  I'll let my computer teach me. (Rosetta Stone!)

Seeing as how my hands are cramping from typing this run-on post, I'm gonna call it quits for now.  Over and out.

The latest of late

I've passed the due date for my weekly expat update.  I got lazy, get over it.  I'm pretty settled in at work, plugging away with drawings and designs.  A component here, a piece there... the work is adding up but it's all manageable.  Mostly simple things that need to be drawn and dimensioned so we can find out the cost to manufacture it.  One piece at a time, it'll all get done.

The search for a sick mountain bike is over.  I wanted to get a bike that I could take into the REAL mountains out here.  Something I don't have to worry about collapsing underneath of me when I land a jump off some rocks.  I wanted to be sure that it had good components that would last.  There is no doubt that I have found and purchased the right bike.  It's green!

The components are a respectable level of Shimano (XT-combo) with a solid full suspension and disc brakes.  Time to tear it up in the mountains!  A guy from work is going to take me out to break it in during one of the coming weekends, when the weather breaks.

This past weekend I found the laundry mat.  Just in time.  Until recently getting the gear and clothing that I mailed to myself, I was running low on clothes.  More specifically I was running low on underwear, even after the relief shipment.  So I was on a mission to find the laundry mat this weekend.  I asked a fellow apartment dweller if he knew of a place in town where I could do my wash.  After quickly explaining, in German, that my German was still horrible he went to get his son who surprisingly speaks English pretty well.  He then explained to me where the laundry mat was.  Off I went and no such luck.  Right where the kid told me to go was a dry cleaner.  Balls.  I couldn't blame the kid, I could "clean" my clothes here.  Just not in the manner I was looking for.  I peeked in the store to find no washers or dryers.  No dice.  Onward.  After cruising around the small town for a while I started to realize that they would not put something as boring as a laundry mat along the main strips.  I started looking to some of the bordering side streets, making a perimeter around the somewhat circular downtown area that is Waldkraiburg.  My logical reasoning had paid off.  Just barely off the main strip, just enough not to be an eyesore, was the laundry mat that I was looking for.  I happily pulled out the bag of clothes from my pack and followed the instructions above the washer.  Coming prepaired, I settled into the book that I'd brought along for the wait.  After making some generous progress in the pages of my book, I retrieved my now clean and dry clothes and headed for home.  That's not before stopping off at small burger joint on the way.  It was a little sloppy to be honest, as I was not expecting this to be a fast food type of place given the appeal of the outside.  Just the same I happily drank my coffee and ate my double cheeseburger.

The way they serve coffee here.  Real coffee has froth!

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful as I chose to read for most of the day.  After getting restless from sitting for hours, changing positions trying to avoid getting stiff, I could no longer resist the urge to run.  I had only gone for a run once since my running shoes came in with the rest of my gear.  The roads were calling and I could deny them no longer.  Mindlessly suiting up in my moisture wicking runner shorts and shirt, I strapped on my Nike watch and took to the streets.  Whenever I find myself in a new place, I generally look to a run to get a feel for my surroundings.  I took this opportunity to venture out beyond where I had already ridden my bike.  The trails around here are incredible.  A vast amount of the roads here are accompanied by nearby forest and have trails that run parallel to them.  Some are close to the roadway and serve as walking and bike trails for general travel.  I hoped on one such trail that follows the contour of a fairly popular road, one that I was confident would continue for a long time and would permit me to run without dwelling on my direction.  I made a good choice.  This road was endless and the trails re-connected as intersections broke the gravel path I ran on.  At one point the road would be sandwiched between to thick walls of pine and then suddenly fan out into the open fields of farmland.  Enjoying the scenery a bit too much I noticed the winds pick up.  Not too far off were the storm clouds I was looking for.  At nearly 25 minutes into my run it was time to shift gears and head home before mother nature decided to unleash havoc.  I made it back before the clouds did, getting out of shower just when the thunder and lightening began to pick up.  Perfect timing.  Then I made chicken carbonara with pasta for dinner.

The past week or so I've been gearing up for this presentation on I project I'd spent a lot of time working on before departing for Germany.  The presentation was to be delivered to some upper management folk here at NETZSCH Germany.  That presentation was today.  Presidents, department managers, research and development directors, etc.  Seven people in all, but each exceptionally important to the company in a different way.  My presentation lasted for nearly two hours as I had expected it.  What I had not expected was the amount of positive feedback and praise for all the work I had put into this project and presentation.  My boss' boss's boss.....the guy in charge of the department I work in, awarded me 1000 € as a bonus for coming to work in Germany and giving such a good presentation on my project. WHAT!?!?!?!?!  Sweet deal.  It's almost like I didn't drop a whole paycheck on that bike....