just john

Here's my quick fix:

Mike Huckabee is a dick.

Posted by justjohn at 17:31 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is my last day at work in Germany for 2007. I took some time to read back through some of my earlier blog entries from the beginning of this adventure. Aside from the emotional roller coaster, what really stood out was that I had no spell check. Sorry about that. I was a champion speller before I started taking a foreign language.

The first three to four months here were simply a long chain of disasters. Something I'd learned before and have heard since happens to almost everyone who moves to a foreign country. A notable exception is Indians. The integration specialist told they just seem to be naturally happy all the time. For the rest of it's a fast moving spiral down into, and back up out of, culture shock. In three weeks I crammed a new job, home, language, and major acquisitions into the crash course that is moving to a foreign country. Over a couple of months I stabilized it into a steady routine I could live with. Although I'm still constantly adapting, I've discovered that there's really no situation that can't be coped with given the right amount of patience. I think the current slow-down in blog entries is a combination of my increased comfort level and that there's not much of note going on these days. I guess they'd call me culturally integrated.

Language is still, and always, a challenge. I'm communicating and mostly understanding but I still feel like the village idiot. I know my grammar is not always right and my sentences are usually short and simple. Complex shades of meaning are still out of my grasp and new situations sometimes result in a German switching over to English to help out. Something I don't think foreigners often encounter in the US.

Tomorrow I'll be flying home. I mean my real home, not this temporary state over here. I've missed it terribly. Though the communication is seldom, I am glad to hear, through Bill, about the number of people who want to see me while I'm there. I really miss everyone more than I ever thought I would. Germany has some great qualities in it's people and the countryside, but I know this is not permanent and they simply can't offer up a substitute for my friends. I could stay here permanently if I could bring Bill and about 100 or so people but that just makes logistics incredibly complicated. I'll instead settle for this as my half-way point.

I've got one more January through December of everything Europe has to offer. That means just twelve months to go for friends to visit, to see things I haven't yet had the chance to, and to keep drinking German beer.

Posted by justjohn at 10:25 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I had an extraordinary sensation Wednesday morning. I was hungry. It's much first experienece with that particular sensation since the döner incident. (incidentally, here at work I have keys on my keyboard for ä, ö, ü at home I have to type them as ae, oe, and ue respectively).

So anyways, I'd been eating by enforced regimine since the whole food poisoning thing. I knew the importance of meal times and observed them as one who follows a religion but does not believe. Finally, I believe again. Just standing there in the kitchen, mind my own business when the old growling pangs struck. It was a good thing.

I've since gotten a recommendation from my Turkish colleague on where to buy a döner.

Posted by justjohn at 14:22 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A döner, pronounced doh-ner, is a Turkish fast food sandwich made with a pita and lamb. The pita is usually fresh-baked and the lamb is gyro-style, but shaved directly from a rotating spit while you wait. They are everywhere and Europe's answer to the big mac. I manage to eat one or two a month. Wednesday's döner went horribly awry.

Immediately after lunch I started to feel uncomfortable and it only got worse as my job review approached. Basically the only reason I stayed at work because I did not want to re-schedule. Yes, I sat through my first German review pale, cold, and nauseous. On top of all that, I think I had food poisoning as well. Survived the review (was good) and went home to spend the remainder of the day in bed trying to figure out why my digestive system refused to operate. Turns out it wanted to operate, just against the normal flow.

Thursday was spent in bed and trying to figure out what foods might be edible. Today should probably be spent in bed, but I have some technical translating that requires nothing more than sitting to finish.

Posted by justjohn at 13:26 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I had assumed early on that this blog might be a short term effort at best but here I am at over 150 entries to date. All drivel, mostl drivel about Germany. At least it is mine and I do pay the rent on the space for it. I think this is my longest lapse so far with keeping track of what's going on here. SO much for regularity. Fortunately, I have not broken or spilled anything in a while and there have been no crisis of the spirit with regard to settling in to Germany. Politics, as well, seem to be on a short hiatus with the notable exception of Fred Thompson. He is apparently willing to nuke foreign countries if they do not cooperate. Aside from that, I'm relatively happy to report nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

I went skiing with Frank in Switzerland this weekend which, I now realize, is not terribly extraordinary. It was three and a half hours drive to the slope we stayed at, though there's also a good one two hours drive away which we will probably visit for a day trip. We had two choices on the way home; one through Austria and another just straight through the Swiss/erman border. Probably 5km difference between the two but Austria requires an additional tax sticker so we didn't. We looked into Lichtenstein on our right as we passed by it. Right about then it dawned on me that I never thought I would live driving distance to the Alps.

So here we were:

Skiing was pretty good for early December. We skied a glacier hill just to be on the safe side. "Where, where? Where did we go?" We stayed in a little ski village called Laax which is a trio of ski towns that are at the base of this particular mountain. The name of the mountain? You wouldn't believe me without a picture and a movie:

http://12claws.com/blog/MOV00753.3GP

Posted by justjohn at 14:30 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)