Wow, that was a lovely trip to Greece! The flight to Athens, and subsequent bus trip to Volos gave me a 7-hour meeting with my boss... Totally awesome, because now I could make him read everything I wanted to and we could discuss it in extreme detail. It was great... Anyway, when we got to Volos finally, the workshop was actually pretty interesting. It was very small (like, 8 people), but it was absolutely interesting. On Friday, Fedor arrived (he flew directly to Volos, without having to do the Athens thing) and we had dinner at night. We had hoped to be able to go to Delphi on Saturday, but it was simply too complicated, so instead we took the 6.15 train to Athens. Unfortunately, it turned out that everything closes at 3pm (every day, apparently), but we managed to tick a few boxes, including the Acropolis, which was Fedor's 37th Wonder of the World). On Sunday, we did Keraimikos and then went to Delphi after all.
That is, on the way there the bus broke down. When we finally did arrive, we quietly ambled to the actual site, to hear there that it was closing at 3pm too (we arrived at 14.35). PANIC! Unfortunately, it also started pissing it down: an absolute deluge! Anyway, we ran across the site anyway (to generic disappointment: the views are great though), doing Fedor's 38th and my 41st Wonder of the World. The weather cleared up again, but we failed to get onto the 4pm bus (full). Rather, we hid from further deluges by drinking beer in a local bar and made it back in the evening.
Monday, we started by going to the Monastery of Daphni. Very cool, particularly because it was being reconstructed and somebody took us up onto the stands and scaffolding and we were able to admire the mosaics from very close. It was super! And a UNESCO World Heritage site... Unforunately, our trip to the Archeological Museum was useless, as it was closed... It felt like dejá vu to me, with the Museum having been closed for my entire period of living there, back in 02/03. It was great to be back though...
I am writing this in the airplane back to Berlin, and will post it on Blogger later. Laptops are good... Tonight, we will be saying goodbye to Carlos, my Argentinean colleague and coauthor. It is a sad day :-(((((((
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Photos to follow
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Oh such a perfect day!
Apart from the fact that Fedor has to teach one class (he started at 11am), today is the perfect Sunday: I am meeting him in an hour to take the train to Greibnitzsee, from where we will continue our journey along the former Wall. approximatel 90km or so down, 70 to go. I am sure we will find a few biergartens, to soak in the Sun (although it is currently clouding over, but I am going to ignore that) and afterwards, we are going to see Haydn's Die Schöpfung in the Berliner Dom. Life is good!
Yesterday we helped some friends move (well, carry IKEA boxes up 4 1/2 flights of stairs, that is) and had a Birthday-BBQ. One of those: "omg, we're getting old" moments. It was only about a minute before we got there when Fedor told me: you know what, it could be one of those children-and-dogs-and-family-fun kinda parties actually... The thought hadn't crosse either of our minds, but of course: people in our age group have children. Maybe not when they are phd students, postdocs or language teachers living in different countries, but this was a party by a Germany person with other Germans... And yes, indeed, children, dogs, the works! Anyway, it was good fun: just an odd realisation that this is the kind of party that most of our Dutch friends in the Netherlands would also be throwing by now...
For the rest, it's been interviews central the past week. We have some positions open, and I have taken up the role of hiring advisor, spending lots of time with my boss interviewing candidates via the phone or in live interviews: some odd people out there! And it takes up a whole lot of energy! Anyway, should only be three more or so this week and basta... Anyway, the coming weeks should be nice and relaxed. Two three-day weeks (in terms of office work at least). I am flying to Athens with my boss on Thursday, making our way to the town of Volos, where there is a one-day workshop on Friday. Then on Friday, Fedor will fly in to Volos and we will hopefully make it down to Delphi and then on to Athens, returning to Berlin on Monday night. Should be fun!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Once we finish the whole Berliner Mauerweg, I will post some photos. The previous leg I actually forgot to bring my camera, but I will not repeat that mistake today!
Yesterday we helped some friends move (well, carry IKEA boxes up 4 1/2 flights of stairs, that is) and had a Birthday-BBQ. One of those: "omg, we're getting old" moments. It was only about a minute before we got there when Fedor told me: you know what, it could be one of those children-and-dogs-and-family-fun kinda parties actually... The thought hadn't crosse either of our minds, but of course: people in our age group have children. Maybe not when they are phd students, postdocs or language teachers living in different countries, but this was a party by a Germany person with other Germans... And yes, indeed, children, dogs, the works! Anyway, it was good fun: just an odd realisation that this is the kind of party that most of our Dutch friends in the Netherlands would also be throwing by now...
For the rest, it's been interviews central the past week. We have some positions open, and I have taken up the role of hiring advisor, spending lots of time with my boss interviewing candidates via the phone or in live interviews: some odd people out there! And it takes up a whole lot of energy! Anyway, should only be three more or so this week and basta... Anyway, the coming weeks should be nice and relaxed. Two three-day weeks (in terms of office work at least). I am flying to Athens with my boss on Thursday, making our way to the town of Volos, where there is a one-day workshop on Friday. Then on Friday, Fedor will fly in to Volos and we will hopefully make it down to Delphi and then on to Athens, returning to Berlin on Monday night. Should be fun!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Once we finish the whole Berliner Mauerweg, I will post some photos. The previous leg I actually forgot to bring my camera, but I will not repeat that mistake today!
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Rambling along
Happy liberation day! In the Netherlands that is… I guess you could call it Defeat Day here in Germany, but in fact: it is simply the case that nobody cares. Anyway, it is a sunny day with the temperature finally reaching agreeable heights again (although it was below 0 overnight). The weather really is crazy, with 25° at some times, and 10° max temperatures on other days! Anyway, we are in an upswing again, so I am looking forward to the weekend!
Recently, we’ve been having quite a bit of fun: lots of visitors, a fair few visits to the local Biergarten and a few holidays in between. Like last week, when we went for another fun Queen’s Day event at the embassy. This time, we did not get embarrassingly drunk (Pieter and Nicole: we miss you guys!), which was good, because it turns out that I am on the list of “Zichtbare Nederlanders”: visible Dutch people (not to be mistaken with visibly Dutch people). This explains why we were actually sent an invitation without asking for anything, rather than having to beg for one like previous years… The week before that, it was Easter. Double fun, because not only was it a four-day-weekend (and wow, four-day-weekends are FANTASTIC), it was also a full-on parents’ weekend, with both my parents, as well as Fedor’s Mum+1 coming to visit. Lots of fun was had, board games were played, Potsdam was visited, Biergartens were enjoyed, etc. It was simply great! They all left on Easter Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to start doing something we had planned for quite a while (nope, not Spring cleaning):
The Berliner Mauerweg! It is a cycling/walking path that follows the path of the Berlin Wall (link). We started off near our house, in Mauerpark and managed to do a good chunk of the 160 km that is the total length of the way. We actually made it all the way to Staaken (going anti-clockwise, obviously), which is 56 kilometers off the whole length of the way. It is a beautiful trip, coming by the lakes, through the forests, across agricultural land, wealthy suburbs and many other interesting places. I am looking forward to doing the rest of the way (it is also a great way of getting to know some different Biergartens…)
Anyway, no news yet on jobs or our future!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS OMG, I was in the Economist!!!!! LINK
Recently, we’ve been having quite a bit of fun: lots of visitors, a fair few visits to the local Biergarten and a few holidays in between. Like last week, when we went for another fun Queen’s Day event at the embassy. This time, we did not get embarrassingly drunk (Pieter and Nicole: we miss you guys!), which was good, because it turns out that I am on the list of “Zichtbare Nederlanders”: visible Dutch people (not to be mistaken with visibly Dutch people). This explains why we were actually sent an invitation without asking for anything, rather than having to beg for one like previous years… The week before that, it was Easter. Double fun, because not only was it a four-day-weekend (and wow, four-day-weekends are FANTASTIC), it was also a full-on parents’ weekend, with both my parents, as well as Fedor’s Mum+1 coming to visit. Lots of fun was had, board games were played, Potsdam was visited, Biergartens were enjoyed, etc. It was simply great! They all left on Easter Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to start doing something we had planned for quite a while (nope, not Spring cleaning):
The Berliner Mauerweg! It is a cycling/walking path that follows the path of the Berlin Wall (link). We started off near our house, in Mauerpark and managed to do a good chunk of the 160 km that is the total length of the way. We actually made it all the way to Staaken (going anti-clockwise, obviously), which is 56 kilometers off the whole length of the way. It is a beautiful trip, coming by the lakes, through the forests, across agricultural land, wealthy suburbs and many other interesting places. I am looking forward to doing the rest of the way (it is also a great way of getting to know some different Biergartens…)
Anyway, no news yet on jobs or our future!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS OMG, I was in the Economist!!!!! LINK
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