#14 Boston Times Neuenburg Edition - September 10, 2004
Let me tell you my friends, being hit in the head with a baseball is not as much fun as it seems! It happened in the second inning of the game between the Neuenburg Atomics and the Baltham Boars with my home team leading with a smashing score already, when a hitter from the opposing team did not meet the ball quite right, and said ball in a freak trajectory came at me like a projectile. Thanks to the interceptive action of my bench neighbor the ball struck only the side of my head and I was spared a serious concussion. Ouch - is all I can say, that was pretty painful. I sat there for the rest of the day with a cold coke bottle against the left side of my head, and fortunately I did not have any major headaches or other signs of serious mental damage. My equilibrium is not quite there and I feel somewhat off kilter, but I am doing o.k. now and the stuttering has subsided (just kidding...).
Back in Boston, I can report that I had a nice visit to Germany - I was a courier for the National Bone Marrow Program and had to go to the university clinic in the town of Homburg/ Saar (http://www.cityalbum.de/germany/homburg.htm). Unfortunately I was too tired from an overnight flight and two train rides so that I did not have time to enjoy the city - the train ride was fun nevertheless past some very scenic landscape (I also discovered that German trains are not only super comfortable, but some of them have specific compartments for bike riders, pretty cool!). The train stations in Germany are filled with cafes, and very futuristic rest rooms (50 cents please) that look amazingly like a space pod of sorts. Only had one somewhat unpleasant encounter with a public phone whose receiver was covered in gum!
I flew into Munich airport, which is quite new and modern - interestingly enough when you wait at the gate there is free coffee, tea and newspapers for the passengers. A little excitement was added to the morning when someone discovered an abandoned plastic bag with "stuff" which was immediately surrounded by four very zealous airport cops and we all had to leave the area while they were trying to figure out if they should get the bomb squad. The landing in MUC was the smoothest landing ever with a big plane, however the landing in Frankfurt was not so good, which made the pilot apologize on behalf of his co-pilot, who he said "usually lands the bird as smooth as butter, but we all have our bad days!"
My time in Germany was filled with sleeping, eating (the German anti-Atkins diet which consists of bread, meat, cake and chocolate accompanied by beer) and having a great time with friends and family. Each day during my visit featured hot temperatures in the 90s, BBQs in the evening with some late night feather ball activities and lots of mosquitoes and wasps. The days were also spent having lunch with my relatives, enjoying some German food favorites such as white asparagus, Rouladen, Sauerkraut and Kasseler Ham, and sitting on the balcony watching my aunt's Turkish neighbors, who she is convinced are selling hashish. I managed to visit my friends Frank and Ingrid and their kids, who until last year lived in California, for a champagne breakfast and had a most wonderful evening with my girlfriends Gitta, Mimi, Gisela, Romy and Silvia, all of whom I have known since Kindergarten. I also went on a shopping spree with some other girlfriends, only to discover a grocery store with Siberian specialties right near the Swiss border. I tried to get in some jogging every day in order to counteract the heavy duty food, and that was a first for me (the jogging....).
For some information on the area where I grew up, the Markgraeflerland (also known as the Toscana of Germany) go to: http://www.tourismus-markgraeflerland.de/
It is always quite amazing and interesting for me to go back to Germany, experiencing the changes the country goes through, and seeing myself more and more removed from the culture I grew up in. It is good to re-connect with friends and family, hear what issues they have to grapple with and get an up-to-date picture on what life is like there. The news during my visit was dominated by the very sad and unfortunate development during the Russian hostage crisis.
In another strange encounter at a local train station I had just gotten into an unsolicited conversation with a Sri Lankan representative of the Jehova's Witnesses when a crazy lady started yelling at the both of us, in both English and German. Apparently the kind man from Sri Lanka had offered her something to eat earlier assuming she was in dire need, and to be honest, that conclusion was not that far off. Her hair looked as if a bird couple was nesting in it, and her clothes were torn, barely held together and looked as if they would fall off any moment. She started yelling at him saying that it was the fault of people like him that she was in this condition, and yadayadayada.... I eventually told her to buzz off and that I would get security, which made her keep her distance, but she kept a watchful eye on us for quite some time.
On my return trip to Boston via Frankfurt I stopped in Freiburg, my college town for a brief visit (http://www.freiburg.de/) only to run into an old college roommate of mine that I had not seen or heard from in almost 20 years! Freiburg is just a wonderful city, lots of German history there. At the airport in Frankfurt, I enjoyed the company and some spirited discussion with a young Englishman who lives in Russia, a US soldier on leave from Afghanistan and a tattooed guy from Canada.
Back here in Boston, we are experiencing some rainy days as a result of the recent Florida weather debacle, and I am hoping for improvement. I have been laying low as a consequence of jet lag and the bruise on my head, but this Sunday I will be attending my first race, and I would like to get a little more practice in. Sunday is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's "Race for the Cure", which I will participate in. Also coming up for the weekend is some volunteering with Boston Cares, Open Art Studios in Cambridge and the Beacon Hill Neighborhood Block Party on Sunday.
Thanks my many friends for replying to my emails, but here is the question - do you read the damn thing or do you use it to line your hamster cages? No one gave me a hard time for writing the "insane humanity" comment in last week's edition.... Just kidding.... Love you all.
Talk to you soon.
Pet:)
Back in Boston, I can report that I had a nice visit to Germany - I was a courier for the National Bone Marrow Program and had to go to the university clinic in the town of Homburg/ Saar (http://www.cityalbum.de/germany/homburg.htm). Unfortunately I was too tired from an overnight flight and two train rides so that I did not have time to enjoy the city - the train ride was fun nevertheless past some very scenic landscape (I also discovered that German trains are not only super comfortable, but some of them have specific compartments for bike riders, pretty cool!). The train stations in Germany are filled with cafes, and very futuristic rest rooms (50 cents please) that look amazingly like a space pod of sorts. Only had one somewhat unpleasant encounter with a public phone whose receiver was covered in gum!
I flew into Munich airport, which is quite new and modern - interestingly enough when you wait at the gate there is free coffee, tea and newspapers for the passengers. A little excitement was added to the morning when someone discovered an abandoned plastic bag with "stuff" which was immediately surrounded by four very zealous airport cops and we all had to leave the area while they were trying to figure out if they should get the bomb squad. The landing in MUC was the smoothest landing ever with a big plane, however the landing in Frankfurt was not so good, which made the pilot apologize on behalf of his co-pilot, who he said "usually lands the bird as smooth as butter, but we all have our bad days!"
My time in Germany was filled with sleeping, eating (the German anti-Atkins diet which consists of bread, meat, cake and chocolate accompanied by beer) and having a great time with friends and family. Each day during my visit featured hot temperatures in the 90s, BBQs in the evening with some late night feather ball activities and lots of mosquitoes and wasps. The days were also spent having lunch with my relatives, enjoying some German food favorites such as white asparagus, Rouladen, Sauerkraut and Kasseler Ham, and sitting on the balcony watching my aunt's Turkish neighbors, who she is convinced are selling hashish. I managed to visit my friends Frank and Ingrid and their kids, who until last year lived in California, for a champagne breakfast and had a most wonderful evening with my girlfriends Gitta, Mimi, Gisela, Romy and Silvia, all of whom I have known since Kindergarten. I also went on a shopping spree with some other girlfriends, only to discover a grocery store with Siberian specialties right near the Swiss border. I tried to get in some jogging every day in order to counteract the heavy duty food, and that was a first for me (the jogging....).
For some information on the area where I grew up, the Markgraeflerland (also known as the Toscana of Germany) go to: http://www.tourismus-markgraeflerland.de/
It is always quite amazing and interesting for me to go back to Germany, experiencing the changes the country goes through, and seeing myself more and more removed from the culture I grew up in. It is good to re-connect with friends and family, hear what issues they have to grapple with and get an up-to-date picture on what life is like there. The news during my visit was dominated by the very sad and unfortunate development during the Russian hostage crisis.
In another strange encounter at a local train station I had just gotten into an unsolicited conversation with a Sri Lankan representative of the Jehova's Witnesses when a crazy lady started yelling at the both of us, in both English and German. Apparently the kind man from Sri Lanka had offered her something to eat earlier assuming she was in dire need, and to be honest, that conclusion was not that far off. Her hair looked as if a bird couple was nesting in it, and her clothes were torn, barely held together and looked as if they would fall off any moment. She started yelling at him saying that it was the fault of people like him that she was in this condition, and yadayadayada.... I eventually told her to buzz off and that I would get security, which made her keep her distance, but she kept a watchful eye on us for quite some time.
On my return trip to Boston via Frankfurt I stopped in Freiburg, my college town for a brief visit (http://www.freiburg.de/) only to run into an old college roommate of mine that I had not seen or heard from in almost 20 years! Freiburg is just a wonderful city, lots of German history there. At the airport in Frankfurt, I enjoyed the company and some spirited discussion with a young Englishman who lives in Russia, a US soldier on leave from Afghanistan and a tattooed guy from Canada.
Back here in Boston, we are experiencing some rainy days as a result of the recent Florida weather debacle, and I am hoping for improvement. I have been laying low as a consequence of jet lag and the bruise on my head, but this Sunday I will be attending my first race, and I would like to get a little more practice in. Sunday is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's "Race for the Cure", which I will participate in. Also coming up for the weekend is some volunteering with Boston Cares, Open Art Studios in Cambridge and the Beacon Hill Neighborhood Block Party on Sunday.
Thanks my many friends for replying to my emails, but here is the question - do you read the damn thing or do you use it to line your hamster cages? No one gave me a hard time for writing the "insane humanity" comment in last week's edition.... Just kidding.... Love you all.
Talk to you soon.
Pet:)
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