Back from Vienna

I was in Vienna, Austria since last Wednesday on a business trip. I just got back at almost midnight last night. It was very warm there (and very warm here in N. Germany) all last week. Vienna is a nice city. Most of the time I was busy and due to fly back Sunday morning, but I ended up just missing my flight in a string of bad luck (despite leaving early in the morning in plenty of time). My new flight was scheduled for late on Sunday and the whole time I regretted not having time to see more of Vienna so I turned the situation around and went back to the city for the day, walked around some parks, ate lunch at a sidewalk restaurant, and visited the Belvedere palace/museum. The most famous painting at the art museum is probably "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt.

The night before I could tell again that Germany had won a soccer match. At one point people were running around wearing German flags and flying them from cars etc. (This was in Austria!!!)

Germany vs. England

Just a brief note about the game over the weekend. It seemed to be a big deal. You could tell each time Germany scored a goal without a radio or tv on. People would cheer off into the distance over the town. We figured it would be a good time to get groceries and sure enough, hardly anyone was driving and the store was a ghost town. I did see one woman that ran into the store from apartments across the street talking on a cell phone, then minutes later came running back out talking in the phone. A little while later we could tell Germany won because everyone except for us was yelling, fireworks were set off and cars were driving around beeping and playing music loudly. They all seemed to have a good time with the game.

World Cup

There is a once every four years international sports competition going on right now that is not the Olympics. We hardly know it exists in the US but the rest of the world prepares for and follows it closely. It is the soccer World Cup (which Germans often translate into English as "foot ball.") I was in East Africa during the last World Cup and it was playing on radios, people were talking about it, and at night they gathered into restaurants/bars or whatever public structure had a TV playing to watch the games. Normally there is almost a cultural phobia about appearing nationalistic in Germany. As a general rule Germans do not fly the German flag and here opt for the regional Scheswig-Holstein flag instead. But that has all changed with the World Cup. Now cars are driving around sporting the two "patriot" German flags sticking up from each window. German flags and stickers are hanging up in random places, windows, balconies, car doors, rear windows. All kinds of German flag colored toys and wrappers are at the grocery store. At work there is a pool going following the games. Last weekend there were spontaneous car horns and yells from the town as a goal was scored by the German team. Apparently, Germany is doing well this year.

I am learning something about how it is structured. There are four groups of four teams. The US is with England (why not UK? or EU as a whole?, each US state doesn't get its own team), Slovenia, and Algeria. From each of these four groups one team will go on to a tournament for the final world cup game. Last time it was won by Italy.

The US is also doing OK. We tied England 1-1 this time around, down from beating them 1-0 the last time we played England in the the world cup (link).

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Update, it is eight groups of four teams and two from each go on to the playoffs...I guess. I am still confused.

2 cents

Here is my suggestion for the Gulf oil leak (everyone is making one, and yes, it is in the news here as well). What about a freeze lock? It would need a sleeve around the pipe before the break. Pump the sleeve with liquid nitrogen surrounding the pipe, the oil in the pipe cools down and starts to become solid, once it solidifies completely, then the end of the pipe can be cut and refitted. In a pipe the fluid moves fastest in the center and slower near the edges and at almost no speed at all microscopically near the edge because of viscosity. Immobilizing a small layer near the edge effectively shrinks the inside diameter, slowing everything down a bit more and so on. Liquid nitrogen is cheap and they have underwater robots...? Of course it would need to be over a long enough section to hold back the pressure behind it, but if they could just slow it down enough ...

Busy and behind schedule

I haven't posted in almost a month. Sorry about that. I have been very very busy and have fallen behind with a lot of things. I'll briefly go over some highlights of the last month.

The next weekend after coming back from Denmark I went back with T for a day trip just over the border at Flensburg. We parked, walked over a bridge that straddled the border and were then in Denmark and could fish. We cast for a few hours but didn't catch anything, so we packed up and headed back. Still it was nice to get out.

Now that I have both my US and EU driving licenses, V has started the process of getting her German license. The person I saw was away on vacation when we went to the office and the alternative threw the book at her (driving lessons, eye exam, first aid class, driving test, ...). The woman was very condescending and asked if V had ever driven before (miming steering a wheel while asking). V has been driving for over 20 years! In Hamburg they have a direct exchange with US driving licenses (no extra testing or anything) that V checked into but you have to be employed in Hamburg. There is also another angle, if you are working for a US company in S-H you can automatically get a drivers license, so if V were self employed, ... ? At any rate something has to be done soon because if you do not convert your license within three years of moving to Germany you have to start from the very beginning as if you have never had one before. V got the eye exam done and is planning to take a two day first aid class in Kiel next week to get those parts done.

The weather has warmed and "sunnied" up dramatically. I've taken the kids on a few mini-outings in the area the last few weekends. One of these is a tree that is a local tourist attraction (more about that later), a maze in a field out of stones, and a tower on a hill where there are nice views. Also last week we drove around Ploen to look at the Rapeseed fields which are bright yellow and at their peak. Mid-May is the best time to visit northern Germany.

And, last of all, I found out that kids under 12 can fish in Germany if they are with someone that has a German fishing license (and has a permit for that particular pond/stream, ...). So T went fishing with A and I tagged along. T caught a pike (finally we caught a fish!!!)! We brought it home and he was very proud of it. V fixed big pike steak fillets out of it.

Denmark Fishing Trip

Last weekend we drove up to the Denmark island of Fyn to go fishing. It is complicated and practically impossible for us to get a fishing license here in Germany because we are residents (tourists can get one however), but in Denmark you just have to buy a fishing license and kids under 18 can fish without one. We stayed in a little cottage on a vacation campground. We didn't catch anything (except that Molly snagged some seaweed that put up quite a fight in the current and seemed just like a fish at first), but it was nice to be able to fish openly and legally. We tried fishing for needlefish (which Europeans call garfish, but they are completely different from gars in America), sea trout (ocean going brown trout which can get very large), and fished some in the harbor with a flouder rig baited with herring. We were a bit too early for the needlefish. The saying around here is that when the rapeseed field bloom, the needlefish are biting, and we were just before that but couldn't go this weekend because of my job. Also, the kids got to watch a movie in English! (Movies are usually dubbed in German in Germany but are in their original language in Denmark.) And, a big highlight for me, because we were outside of Germany, V was able to drive the car for the first time and I got to ride in the passenger seat for a change!

School Volunteering

The school is operating with a skeleton crew now (with the headmaster barred from entering the school). The week before last there were only two teachers Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On those days V volunteered by staying at the school during the day with the kids and helped out where she could. I did some extra driving after school to help shuttle some kids around between activities. (I tried practicing German with them, and having them practice some English while driving, which in general resulting in a lot of giggling.) This last week some other parents came forward and volunteered. The remaining teachers have a lot of pressure on them and I really appreciate how hard they are working to keep things going. The kids split into two groups, one group worked with horses for a few days while the other group made a film at the school. Most of the film was funny and light hearted but it did contain some "angst" sections with one of the teachers "fighting evil" and with WWII bombing references, which my son told me was because the kids were worried about what would happen with the school change.

Also, V saw/heard about some advertisements to hire new teachers that the occupation adults put out. Apparently they do not have anyone in place to take over teaching, and from what the headmaster said it can be difficult to find people to hire. So this transition may continue for a long time.