Dive In!

Yes, I know.  This is weird.  I never, EVER post anything on the blog.  Heidi does such a great job of it, I really can't hope to compete.  But I just got to do something cool that Heidi didn't do.  To be fair, she wasn't offered the choice of doing it (although I have my doubts whether she would want to...).

This "something" was a commercial diving course which will allow me to SCUBA dive as part of my work.  It was one of the most exhausting, cold, and WET things I have ever done in my life.  And also one of the most rewarding and fun.

Want to know more?  Then suit up, make sure your gear is working, and enjoy the pictorial journey.
And remember: don't forget to breathe!

Week 1: Kjelst, Denmark (10-14 February)

Setting up the equipment for our first dives in freezing (literally, FREEZING) cold water

Getting the diver dressed

Tending the line (and enjoying one of the rare moments when it wasn't raining or hailing)

My turn to go in.  Yes, the gear does make you look sexy, but know this:
it comes with the price of a seriously sore back the next day

Please don't let it be as cold as last time!

Evenings were spent practicing other skills, like tying knots.
We would eventually have to tie all the knots underwater.
Wearing 5 mm-thick gloves.  Blindfolded.  Yeup.

On the last day in Kjelst, the sun came out.  It was glorious.

Week 2: Hemmoor, Germany (March 23-27)

Diving in Hemmoor was awesome for several reasons.  First, and most importantly, the water was much warmer:
a balmy 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit) .  Second, look at that view from the dock!

Monitoring communications during the dive.  We used these cool helmets that had microphones in them so that we could talk to the people on the surface.  Came in handy sometimes.

Here is the helmet in action

In addition to the helmet, we also always had a rope connected to us so that we could be found (or pulled back) if we got into any trouble.  Luckily, that was never needed except during our rescue drills.

Looking at your own bubbles rise to the surface is a pretty special thing

Week 3: Fredericia, Denmark (April 7-11)

Our last dive site was near the bridge that connects the island where Heidi and I live to the mainland of Europe

One of our tasks we had to complete underwater was to sketch something to scale.  Not an easy task when you A) can't draw to begin with, B) are wearing thick, neoprene gloves, C) can only see a few feet in front of you at any time, and D) keep dropping the board and have to swim down to get it

One of my favorite tasks was photographing the animals growing on the piers.  Here are some sea squirts, sea anemones, and assorted other hydrozoans

And a green crab

Our final exam involved doing a little underwater carpentry.  Here you see our tool basket, complete with saw, hammer, chisel, clamp, and ruler.  Notice how the wood floats.  Usually, that isn't a problem.  But when you are trying to work with the dang stuff underwater...it's a problem.

But despite the wood's best efforts to escape from us, we all managed to
complete our "Greek Crosses" and pass our final exam!

A great course with some great people.  Thanks for diving in!

When I Grow Up

Prepare to be a little bit bored.

Today I woke up, had a cup of tea with Paul, and sent him out the door to work.  Then I turned to my laptop and giggled.  Giggled at my laptop.

Because I was so excited to write a memo.  Are you following me?  I was psyched-out to write a one-page memo (which, coincidentally, turned into three pages and I do not apologize) about a Gantt Chart.

All I'm really trying to say is that I think I've found that magic end of the rainbow world where you say, "Shoot! I love this stuff!  I want to work on this.  All day long!" and you aren't even being a little bit sarcastic.

Until I found this place, this thing, I always thought that everything in the world could be interesting, if you let it, and that everything in the world would be annoying, inevitably--that work would always have parts that you hated or suffered through, with bits of warm fuzzies to keep you going.

But, I'm telling you all, right now, this very minute, that I found the thing!  I found the thing that I love to do and it's all warm fuzzies all the time!  I didn't think this kind of thing could even technically exist in this universe, but it does!

And here's the weird part-- even when everyone else in the world may see some particular component of this thing as annoying, I see it as interesting!  Even when everyone else wants to bang their heads against a wall for other parts of the thing, I just want to sit down and never get up till I figure those same things out (and I might bang my head against the wall too--but it would be for fun).

I just read an e-mail, taking about some possibilities for this thing that I may be able to work on in the future aaaaand I did a dance about it.  Yes I did.

I wonder if there is a thing for everyone in the world--and the trick is just to find it?  That's the hard part.  Finding the thing.  Because it can be scary to leave the other, not as fun, things that you're doing right now that feel comfortable--because you're not sure if, when you leave that comfortable place, that you'll even find the right thing in the end.

But, people, you have to try.  Because having the thing is worth it.

Why am I Writing This?

On Monday, I turn in my beloved office keys--my last-name-misspelled-in-German-phonetics office keys-- and enter the strange voidishness that is going to be February and March.

No University classes to teach.  No FinNland project to work on.  No German courses to take.  Oh, blerg.  Who's idea was it to put the two-month semester break in February and March?!  Of all months!  Of all the crazy?!

BLERG!  BLERG I SAY!

So I will write here in February and March (as I learn German at home, and do my Master's courses, and explore the city, and whatnot).

Because I've always gone to a blog to write, it seems.  Ever since I first learned about blogs, actually--way back in the Jurassic period, you know, 2006.

Then, after a bit, I'd finish a chapter of my life and make a new blog--like buying a new journal.  This latest blog is number three; had one in Grad School, had one in Oregon, and got one for Europe.

They're just my casual journals.  That's all they are!  Just a place where I can put the funny or beautiful or interesting things about my day--and having one helps me notice the funny or beautiful or interesting things about each day.  I like that.

I like to blog and I like it when other people blog.  I like getting to know other people through theirs and I really like letting other people know me through mine if they happen across it.  I've always thought this.

HI, strangers!  Hi!   привет to people in Russia!  (I have a friend named Mikhail from Russia.  Really.  Last night he said that Jesus is like a red, red rose--and I'll bet you want to know what that was all about.  Welp, so do I!  It made no sense.) and Hi people in Minnesota, and Hola people in Spain!

So, when I asked myself today, as I walked past the 3 &'s and the Murder-Cow-Sign, "Why are you writing this blog, really?"  That was my cross-my-heart answer:  I just want to remember things and I just enjoy writing about life.

And there's so much to write about!  Because I live in fraaaaarikilickin Europe!  I could write about light switches and it would be interesting.

Seriously.

Or even office keys.

Back to Work

It's back to (real) work for both of us this week.  I say that because Paul had to work part-time all last week too.  He's a trooper.  A barnacle-nurturing trooper.

I woke up this morning in a panic because I realized that after spending a week completely in vacation-land, I have half a German workbook to complete, a Master's course to start, another German project to start and finish, an English lesson to plan, and a GIS freelance contract to wrap up all before Wednesday.

Huh.  That should be fun.

But aaaanyway, check out these aqua-vases I found for 3 euro.  I got them because there are tulips for sale in the street markets.  I think the purchasing process for vases and flowers is usually the other way around...

That's how we roll in the eastern hemisphere.

Dead Rudolph

I went for a walk today to check out the preparations for the end-all-and-be-all Christmas festival of the world--the Weinachtsmarkt.  America has already been soundly put to holiday-celebrating shame, and the Rostock festival hasn't even started yet.

I saw this booth from the Finnish Tourism Agency and thought it was both disturbing and hilarious.   Ruuuudolph?  Is that youuu?  No, no, it can't be!  Is it...is...it...Nooooooo!

Also, that reindeer is seriously only about four feet tall.  Did you know reindeer were so small?  I think all those Christmas movies from my past totally thought elk were the same as reindeer.  They. are. not.  A bit of ethnocentrism going on there.

Finnland now has two "n"s just so you know.

And did I tell you that I'm working at the Max Planck Institute now?  I have my own office and I'm working on a project about FinNland, no less!  So, here's to you FinNland, dead Rudolph, and the Christmas Market that starts on Thursday.

Tuesday/Dienstag

I always feel nervous on Tuesdays now.  I have until 3:15pm to wait around at home and get all worked up about my English lectures.  I kind of wish I taught at 8am just so I could get the nervousness over with.  It always turns out desk-knockable and fun, but still, teaching really is like putting on a one-woman show with a paying audience every single week.  And no one likes the thought of getting tomatoes thrown at them, metaphorically or otherwise.

I totally had another stress dream last night.  They come once every six or so months and they are all variations on the same theme.  I have to go somewhere really important that can't be delayed and I have to do about fifteen really small things that may not seem significant on their own, but when you have to do all of them very quickly it gets nerve-wracking.  And of course, in these dreams, one of those small things goes completely wrong and all heck in the world breaks loose.

I think that's what's going on in my subconscious on Tuesdays when I'm worrying about teaching.  I'm paranoid that I'm going to forget one tiny thing, like forgetting to bring chalk for the board, and everything will go horribly, horribly wrong because of it.

I know this isn't logical.  I'm just telling you about my day.

Today is especially jittery because it's my first day of German class.  What do I wear to school?  What supplies do I bring?  Will they speak in English at all?  Will I sit in the front or the back?  Where do I buy my book?  Will the teacher forget her chalk and break out all heck in the world?

The deep, ponderous questions of the universe.

I'm going to go eat some stir fry.

Desk-Knock Success!

The Hallowed Halls of Ulmenstrasse Campus
(The Building Where I Teach)

I've learned a lot of things from my English conversation students so far.

"Licking" is teenage slang for kissing, for example.  I discovered this when we were playing catch-phrase and a student had to describe "licking" for the others to guess.  She started out, "It is like when a man and a woman really like each other..."   You can imagine the look of utter confusion and suppressed horror on my face.

After we cleared up our mutual misunderstanding on that one, I told them that I'd probably end up licking my husband when I went home--which was hilarious to everyone involved.

Or, I also learned that there's a holiday called "Carnival" here.  When I followed up by asking if people threw plastic bead necklaces from parade floats and women wore feathers and glitter and did the Samba, well, you can imagine their looks of utter confusion and suppressed horror as they explained that, no, in fact, Carnival was during January and February (feathers and glitter indeed!) and involved paper lanterns, various sweet breads, and occasionally roller coasters.

Though...I'm still unsure about the roller-coasters thing since, when I expressed surprise that there would be roller-coasters in, you know, the fraggin' middle of the freakin' winter, all the students gave me a look that said, "Well, when else would you have roller coasters?"

There was a slight communication breakdown at that point.

Today's Observations

1. The doorknobs don't turn.  Your key opens the door latch.  But I still try to turn the knobs every time.

2. All the cars are nice here.  I could think this a) because I just came from a small, rural community where cars were pretty not-nice looking and/or b) because they really are all nice since you have to be pretty well established to afford it and/or c) because people just take really good car of their cars.

3. People are generally really nice here (possibly excluding the two students I like to call "the cheerleaders"--jury is still out on them).  Paul and I got haircuts yesterday from this wonderfully friendly Ukrainian woman.  The only English she knew were lines from Terminator movies--when we were talking about how fast hair can grow back, she just agreed by pointing at my hair and saying, Arnold-style, "I'll be back." 

He's Not Dead Yet

And...it's getting better.

But, I thought I'd give you all a tour of the Bachelor Pad aka Death Hole aka Dissertation Office aka "No. Don't Make Me Go Back In There."

Things I Will Miss: My Work

I'm really going to miss my job!

I can get over missing things like ... oh ... deodorant.  I can make do without English-speaking television.  I can push through and persevere in a place that doesn't give you a glass of water for free with your meal.  I can survive on 5% milk if I have to.  I can live without a car, or a kitchen-aid, or hulu (maybe), or anything remotely resembling Mexican food.