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Before I came to Germany, I joked that by coming here I would get to have my winter during summer. Well, it ends up that I was right. The last week it has been chilly and rainy (but not the summer rain we were getting before), and today it was different. When I woke up, it was cloudy, but not rainy; 11 degrees (~50 F) with an expected high of 15 (~64); and no real jacket since mine ripped in Amsterdam. So, I did something I really didn’t want to do…
I wore my big ol’ UA hoodie. Mike had made fun of it, and joked how I wore it to the carnival. Christoph & Christian told me that this is what they think of as stereotypical, US college clothing – and it definitely is… you know, especially when that hoodie is red, white and blue. LOL.
But it was great today, because it was chilly out, but not raining – perfect weather for a walk. So I strolled to the lab and worked. All day. It was great. I plated more single seeds. I prepared a ton of slides from my Alternaria assays with different staining, which was difficult, because I am totally not used to preparing full size leaves. So great! And in little ten minute gaps between two hour marathon slide sessions I got to blog!
And then there was a BBQ potluck, where we all brought our own meat, but Jorge paid for the two crates of beer (about 24 bottles each), and one crate of bionade (fruit juice and alcohol in a bottle). Tasty
Oh, and I was dinked on a bike . I know, it sounds bad, huh? But just a few days after I learned in Amsterdam that ‘dinking’ is riding double on the back of a bike where the rear rack is, I caught a ride this way back from the ZMDP with Anna. So instead of walking for 30 minutes, or waiting for the bus to take me back way, she offered me a ride on the back. It was terrifying, and fun, with us laughing and giggling half the way as we talked. And fast!
Dinking!
Random German Fact of the Day:
Clothing with university logos on them is super uncommon here. Not only are hoodies like ours not worn, but if they are found, the emblem is much smaller. AKA, I stuck out big time today – but at least I was warm.
Getting a Ph.D. in science (well, I’m sure in all fields) is no small feat. And while in Germany there seems to be a more defined period of time compared to the U of A, I know that Anne has been here that full time. She followed Birgit from where she was here, to finish her Ph.D – and will do her post-doc here. FYI, she’s 30, which is average here.
So after what I would bet is around 25 years of school, and a good 6-7 of them being spent working whatever hours it took to do research in the lab, reading papers, modifying protocols, etc. All of this is similar to the US. Hardcore.
So, as I have found to be true with many things German, they may work hard, but they also know how to party hard – both in drinking, fun, and celebration. After Anne was done with her defense presentation, and the back & forth questioning, in formal German (even though all the scientific talks they do here are in English) with all of us watching, she told us that she had scored in the highest ranking possible on her defense (YAY!). I could tell she was going to – you know, even though I hardly understood the presentation, and was practically biting my nails during the questioning because I had NO clue how it was going. But she rocked it – and then the fun began.
First, a cheers with Sekt for everyone, and the presenting of tradition #1…
German tradition #1: The hat
In the week leading up to Anne’s defense, the members of the lab (including me) were sneaking off to other labs to make her Doctoral Hat. The hat represents that person, and all the work they’ve done to get to this point. So Anne’s had a petri plate labeled Wild Type & Mutant – but instead of bacteria or yeast, it was cutouts of her head either in a normal hue, or a bizarre color. She plays the flute (and has played it for others when they were awarded their Ph.D.), so there was a flute. She’s a big scifi fan, so there was a Photoshopped image of her head in the cast of one of the Star Treks. Loves birds, so there was a plastic bird perched in the area uniting the paper on the back of the hat where all the images were. But the crowning thing was the hat itself – a paper mache turtle, fully painted. As you can guess, Anne loves turtles.
German Tradition #2: The Games
Although the theme may be different depending on who you are, there typically a round of game-show like games before you are truly done. In this case, another lab at the ZMBP made the theme Star Trek, where, now that Anne was a doctor, she was qualified to become and “Intergalactic Doctor of the Federation”. She was assimilated (silly clothes and glasses put on by Birgit), she challenged an emperor to finding a PCR tube to help her in her clonings (Christian running a shell game), and she had to soothe a monster with music (glass tubes filled to different levels – and tuned – it rocked). The games continued with a little drinking, identifying different things (lab things, including bacteria, LOL) by smell, a trivia match, and then, with Jorge’s PAMP [water]Gun, shooting down some tubes.
German Tradition #3: The Car, aka the one we didn’t do
Around the lab, they decided to skip this tradition in lieu of having a big ol’ party afterwards. The tradition is to make/decorate a toy car, place the Ph.D. student inside – with their hat of course, and push them through public places – like the cafeteria cheering, hollering, etc. I’ve seen on before – it’s awesome, silly, and a confusing if you don’t know what’s going on before.
So after Anne finished her challenges, we enjoyed our pot luck and bier! and wine! and normal stuff. So much fun! I still find it odd to drink like 5 beers with my boss, talk, have her call someone she used to work with a chauvinist asshole (and then say, yeah, well, I think that’s completely reasonable – he sounds like an ass), talk about some work, have her talk about how Anne is her first Ph.D (she was SOOOO proud). Just neat
It was a great party, and a great last night for Mike. Who I helped off the next morning, getting his 3 big ol’ bags down to the bus. It’ll be weird without him – but I’ll probably walk more, LOL.
Last night Mike and were supposed to meet Patricia and Stefan for something that was described to us as something where ‘there are fireworks, and stands for food – and beer’. But it started pouring so hard that we were unable to make the time when we were going to meet them. Luckily, it cleared up and we found are way to the park after some wandering down a park, under and overpass, and over train tracks. Seriously. But we got there, walked around and were unable to find them. So naturally, we had a beer and waited.
And although we never ran into them, the fireworks were really nice. It was about a 15 minute show with some big ones, and variety – an average 4th of July show in a small town I would say. So even though it was the 8th and not the 4th, Mike and I had our 4th of July fireworks. In Germany. At a carnival. With beer!
It started a couple weeks ago… a quick discussion between Sara, Sandra & I as we all walked to MENSA. I mentioned how my mom had taught both my brother and I to cook, and how recently it had become a real passion of mine. Mixing flavors, trying things out, etc. And both of them thought it was so cool that my mom had taught us. In their homes, their moms had cooked amazing meals, but never really taught them, and they wished they had learned when they were younger.
Then a few weeks ago, Mexican food came up… and I said, ‘oh, yeah, I definitely know how to make good Mexican food’. Sara literally jumped for joy and begged to know if I knew how to make tortillas (she also made a comment about Taco Bell at some point, but I forgave her). And I told her that I was still learning, but I would be happy to teach the members of the lab to make tortillas.
Later that week, we decided to not only make tortillas, but to have a full on Mexican dinner for our research group.
So, the week before I left, after a little shopping the weekend before, and making beans the night before, it was time for Mexican night at my flat. But first a note on shopping for ingredients in another country for ingredients that have a section dedicated to them in most groceries in the states. It’s tough. No cheddar, no mozzarella, and as I had actually expected, no queso seco. But I was also shocked to find no hot chiles of any kind. And I also discovered that the variety of avocadoes they sell here (although they claimed to be the ones we use) are actually the type you use green (mind you, I didn’t discover this until we tried actually making the Guacamole = ew). Luckily, we found pinto beans. It was a challenge, but a fun one, improvising this ingredient for that to make a given flavour was really enjoyable.
After work, we met at the flat, and started cooking. Sara, Sandra, Anne, Christina, Mike & I started, and everyone was soo great about helping. Dicing tomatoes, potatoes, onion and garlic for the picadillo and the salsa; opening the avocadoes (once again, ew) for guacamole; warming up the frijoles; making a quick marinade for the meat; Mike preparing Spanish rice. And outside, Sandra and Christina took care of the grill. I just gave tips, shared how my mom had taught me to taste and adjust, the basic ingredients, etc. and then did the actual cooking of the picadillo (with part split off to have tofu added instead of meat for Sara – it was actually really good), and finished it up. Outside, they took care of the carne asada and then I cut it up and did a couple of things.
They brought the drinks and set up the tables outside, and we kept the food warm by rotating them on the grill, and off to the porch. We served, I showed them how to make burritos. We had chips, and beans, and chipotle looking burritos on purchased tortillas heated on the grill. Passing pans and bowls, getting up to serve themselves, it felt like a Mexican family in Germany, at a guest house.
But overall, I think the best part was the dessert tortilla making that we ended the night with. It started off with Sara and me mainly making the dough and then actual tortillas, with Christina, Anne and Birgit as spectators. Laughter, experimenting (wait, that’s not right, let’s add more oil because of this), and the use of spectators hands to add those things ensued. So more people came to watch from outside, where the firelog Stefan had brought was burning. And Andrea even joined in. So tortillas were made – by rolling pin, I admit – and hand flipped. Nutella, butter, sugar, honey, peanut butter, and/or bananas were piled on to make dessert tostadas. Perfect.
The tortillas ended up being an immensely enjoyable competition between the Italians (1/2 Italian for Sara). She was the only one making the tortillas with me at first, starting from the dough. But when Andrea came in, I kind of showed him, and everyone that watched gave the advice they had seen from Sara. And then it became the two man battle of the circles (shape of tortillas) and bubbles (from the puffiness of air pockets). When Andrea made the first tortilla to bubble, Sara’s response was, ‘Bubbles. Who needs bubbles? They’re just air!’ FYI – her opinion changed when she got her first.
It was really amazing, I felt so united with all these people, and they loved the food, which was great. I was able to share with them my culture the way they have with me. And they were so appreciative of my effort, of running around the kitchen (even though I couldn’t have done it without them), that is just made me want to cook more.
*My random memorable moment:
When we were talking about guns and that type of gang stuff in Tucson and Mike said in a really nonchalant manner, ‘Well, I’ve only been shot at once’. I was in the middle of drinking my beer. And to avoid spraying it all over the food, I turned away from the table. But quick enough. I pretty much sprayed a mouthful of beer over Birgit, my PI here. Classic. Embarrassing. Funny.
EuroCup 2008 Finals! A great night at Alt Tubingen included all you can eat pancakes (savory, sweet & too many) and bier. A bunch of people from the ZMBP came and we took up three tables. Three tables of excited and painted up (including Mike & Gretel) scientists ready for some fun (and hopefully a victory).
The place was packed, and while it may not have been the best played match, it was incredibly exciting. The best thing about experiencing Euro2008 is feeling the passion that everyone else has for each match, for the players, for the outcome is infectious. Du bist Deutschland (you are Germany) as the commercial says. I want to be German in these times – and I paint myself as though am – even though I’m an American away from home.
After Germany won the match, we headed down to the Neckar for the street party. In-sane. I wish I had been able to take more pictures and video, because it was soooo cool. Energy, craziness, but I never felt scared – which may have been in part to all the guys from the ZMBP (they’re great! and cute!). It’s too bad that I won’t be able to see the championship with everyone, but imagine it will be great in Heidelberg as well – and it’ll be cool for my mom and aunt to experience the futbol fever. Like guys running (and riding their bikes) down the streets in-and-out of traffic completely decked out. Like traffic backing up. Like 100s (which will hopefully be thousands if all goes well on Sunday) of thrilled people. 
Lessons learned:
Say no to Kirschweissen. Although it’s very popular here (which is why I tried it) it tastes neither like Kirsch nor like weissen. Okay, and worth a try – not a .5L try though.
