Dave Germany: 31-35 (finally moved into my own place!)

On Wednesday morning, I needed to get internet setup for my apartment.  That should take 1-2 days, maybe a week, right?  HA!  I went to the local place in town, and they didn't offer service to my apartment in the middle of town (wtf?)...and when I went to the european service provider (O2) that did, the guy said "it will take 3 weeks for everything to show up in the mail".  %$@!  I had no other options, so I said okay.  And remember the German post is on strike, so who knows when it'll actually arrive.  (this stuff is no joke...isn't this just getting ridiculous??).  So meanwhile my internet options were use data from my mobile phone plan, or sit on the road outside the PhD flat when needing to send emails (yes, I am actually doing that)

Wednesday evening, I met my landlord, and was expecting to finally get the keys to my apartment!  We met at 7pm and he said "sorry, no keys.  you have to wait until July 1".  My stress-level went through the roof!  I had to move out of the PhD in 2 days, but now I had no where to go.  And I had made plans to move the furniture from Nankendorf on Thursday evening.  My head was spinning, I went back to apartment in crisis mood.  This wasn't ever possibly of my plan.  I sent out texts out to people in town, asking again if I could crash on their couches..what the @#$% was I gonna do?

(back story...the apartment is changing ownership, and was suppose to already had changed hands.  But the paperwork is traveling via the German post & hasn't arrived yet to finalize the contract sign-offs...so the old landlord is being a giant pain...and not wanting to deal with anything until July 1.  But my landlord is an awesome guy, and wants to let me move in, and told me he would talk to his father to see he could force anything to happen in my favor)

On Thursday morning, I received a text from Labi, saying a conversation was had late Wed night, and the old landlord would let me move in for 30 Euro a day until July 1.  Of course I said yes!  I had woken up in panic, but this message came as a blessing.  That night we all met to sign paperwork, and I finally got my keys!  I moved all my stuff (it is located near the PhD Flat), and it felt glorious.  I also moved my furniture pickup from Nankendorf to Tuesday, so things appeared to be rescued!

On Friday, I finally finished a small project at work (woohoo!), and then headed to my own apartment! Labi and I got together to celebrate my place (he lives next door) and shared a beer.  Labi had some qualifying tests earlier that day, so he wanted to celebrate too.  After the sun had gone down, I needed to write a few emails, but didn't have internet, so I went to the nearby PhD Flat, and sat out on the road (technically, i dont think its stealing WiFi, since I have lived there twice)

On Saturday, it was 'buy a bunch of things for my apartment day'.  Unfortunately it was rainy, but I didn't care.  It started with 2 runs to the grocery store.  Then I walked to furniture store in town, bc I didn't have a chair in my apartment!  (I had a table, but no chairs).  I walked in, found the cheapest chair, then walked out.  But then I had to carry it back.  So for 30 minutes there as an American carrying a chair over his head through the streets of Herzo.  I had quite a few stares from several 'straight and narrow' Germans

That afternoon, I got a surprise call from Henry.  He was headed into Nuremburg, and asked I wanted to come along, and use his car to haul stuff.  You're darn right!  I came back with another car load of stuff, and was ready to call it a day!  

But every Dave story in Germany has a 2nd part...I started cooking on Sat evening & then realized I had no noodles.  It was 7:54 and the store closed at 8pm.  I ran out the door....without my keys or phone.  &#$%!  After learning I can't break into my own apartment, I walked over to my landlords house, praying he would be there (otherwise, I would be sleeping in the stair well).  He was there!  Problem solved!  I guess noodles just weren't in the cards for the weekend :)  (reminder, all shops are closed here in town on Sundays)

On Sunday, the sun was shining and so I took an early morning 2 hr bike ride.  I found a few dead end roads, but at this point, I didn't care.  I returned home, spent the afternoon finally chatting at length with Nadine, and then finishing personal emails.

So as I end this email today, I have finally caught up on my 'travel updates'!  Wow, finally!  It has been a 35 days that I never expected, and hopefully you have stuck with me through all the details.  I apologize if the length of these emails has been cumbersome, but who can believe all that has happened?!  Oh my goodness!...but the fun is finally about to start.  I have plans for the next 2 weekends (an overnight relay trail run with the adidas engineers & then visiting a friend on their honeymoon south of Munch)  Hopefully these emails will begin to filled with joy, and less frustration.  

Let Week 6 begin, whats the worst that could happen...

I finally have the keys to my apartment!

Cheapest chair in the store

Looking out my front door

Looking in from the front door (the kitchen)

Reverse view of the kitchen (at the front door)

My (soon to be) living room (look for the blue carpet in the earlier picture... left of the front door

The bathroom (near the drying rack).. yes the washer is suppoed to be there

My bedroom (across from teh bathroom

The 'American Store' in Nuremberg... Ha

From my bike ride on Sunday

Dave Germany: 27-30 (apartment furniture found!)

I slept miraculously on Saturday with the rain, but I also needed the weather to clear.  My visit for furniture was 10 km away, so I had to bike.  After getting a little lost & unable to dodge all the drops, I arrived soaked.  I met Damian, a Polish kid working for adidas, and we had an instant friendship with my last name.  When I looked at the stuff he was selling (and the amazing price), I said 'yes!'  I was very happy that I had completed another step in getting my life setup...apartment furniture.  We would need to figure out a date to move things via truck, but I gave him a down payment to ensure it was mine. 

On Saturday afternoon, the NZ woman engineer was still in town, and since she knew she was going to be moving here, she asked if me & another engineer (Henry) with a car wouldn't mind showing her around.  So we drove around Herzo, Erlangen, and even down to Nuremburg to walk around the altstadt & see the Imperial Castle.  I then asked Henry if we could check out any other site in town, and so we drove to the Nazi Rally Grounds.  I wanted to take advantage of being in car, and not having to travel via bike or foot.

Other than a race car event being setup, this place was awesome!  There wasn't much left of the enormous cement structures, as we bombed most of it, but you could imagine what it was like 80 years ago.  This was where the videos of Hitlers famous speeches to massive crowds were, and also where the US & Allie officially celebrated the end of WW2 (we blew up a massive swastika).  This was great...this is why people visit these sites...because of how influential they were on the world.  I was finally getting to experience part of the history of Germany.  And with the Krzeminski history of World War II in Europe, I am really interested in the WW2 sites.  (and whats also neat...is I was just able to experience part of the Urbon side of WWII in Australia!)

On a cloudy Sunday, I headed out for a bike ride, but then came home and tackled all my laundry & lots of personal things.  Especially the several 'travel update' emails that I spammed yall with :)

On Monday, I went for a run and found some trails that got me away from the city of Herzo.  When I got back into the trees, and let my mind quiet down, it felt a little bit like running through the woods in Michigan  :)    

On Tuesday, I met up with Maik (who was moving out of Adlerstrasse 10) and I paid him for the stuff he was leaving inhis apartment.  One big thing to learn about living in Germany, is that the base level of what you get with an apartment is very different.  In addition to reasonably agreeing on a price for a washing machine, kitchen table, and bed....one has to also purchase the kitchen (oven, fridge, cabinets), light fixtures, etc.  (For example, Maik took his medicine cabinet, so I will not have anything but a loose wire above the bathroom sink when I move in).  Isn't that crazy?!  Luckily the windows & doors were included with the place!

Oh man, Wednesday was finally here.  My landlord (Labi) said he should have my keys to move in!

The center of Hochstadt...my bike ride on Sunday

Flowers during my Bike ride

Nazi rallying Grounds (what is left)

What it looked like in the 1930s

Looking out from the main pulpit (over the race car event)

We blew up the swastika (upper left of the picture)

Entrance to the track and soccer pitch on adidas campus.... I ran around the track one day

Dave Germany: 22-26 (back to first apartment)

In Week 4, I started riding my bike to work.  It's ~2 mile ride, and mostly on a path that is along the road.  It makes for a pleasant start to the morning, and a therapeutic end to the day.

Monday was my conference with the Portland office.  It started at 5pm (8am their time) and more first impressions, which are always critical in the workplace.  But my presentation went well again & I got to meet members of the Portland team.  Paul (my boss) also seemed pleased

I had made friends with the new tenant in the PhD Flat (a female Masters student from Vienna doing her Thesis with adidas) and on Tuesday, she told me that she had to go back to Vienna the following week for exams.  She said I could move back into the PhD Flat, until moving into my new apartment.  This was great news!  This meant I only had 3 more nights on the floor.  Plus, my laundry pile was getting large!  (At this temporary apartment, there was only 1 washing machine for the ~15 adidas interns...yikes...and it was always busy).

I also finally got my Health Insurance card!  Hopefully I never need to use it, but neat to actually have Health Insurance in a foreign country.  That also reminded me to take care of my bank card.

On Wednesday morning, I headed to the bank in Herzo (it was no longer under renovation!).  I had received my bank card in the mail, but not the follow-up letter with the PIN card...that is needed to actually use your card.  I figured they would be able to change it there (as they did for me in Australia).  HA, wrong again!  The local bank is unable to change your pin & it must be sent out by the main Munich office.  Then the bank teller told me I probably didn't receive the PIN b/c the German post is on strike.  So when they sent a new one, who knows when it will arrive.  &#$%!  I said to send it again anyway, because otherwise I have a useless piece of plastic.

I also had a meeting with Paul about my next 5 potential projects.  It was pretty exciting stuff, and I even heard a bit about their plans for the soccer balls for the upcoming 2018 & 2022 World Cups.  So once again, work was moving along great, but personal things were a daily train-wreck.

On Thursday, I had a very busy day, as I was hosting an intern engineer from the adidas-Portland office who was visiting Herzo.  It was a 23 year old woman from Auckland, NZ who was interviewing internally for an 18 month 'rotational-type' program.  She had just graduated with a personalized Sports Eng degree (sound familiar?).  We had so much in common, and so we had great conversation all day. (Spoiler, she got the job offer, and will start in Herzo inOctober!)

On Friday, I got the key back to the PhD Flat, said goodbye & many 'thank yous' to the indian guys.  We spent several evenings chatting together, and would say, we are now friends!  It took two trips to move all my stuff back, but I finally had a bed again!  I went to the grocery store, and loaded up for (hopefully) only 6 more days of living as a nomad.

I was happy to see a rainy weekend forecast...perfect for sleeping in!  But I had also setup a visit to look at furniture (through the adidas bulletin board) that I would desperately need to outfit my apartment.

German Health Insurance Card

Church near the famous Christmas market near Nuremberg

We saw a car in Nuremberg with 3 passenger doors that open the same way!

The adidas store in Nuremberg

Local 'ski' player on the Munich soccer team

Dave Germany: 15-21 (a week of work...finally)

My third Tuesday at adidas started off with details of my first work project.  Only I found out it was a short timeline, and there would be a meeting on Friday morning to go over my results.  I had 72 hrs to complete my first test as an adidas Engineer.  As I walked out of work, I noticed a line of manikins wearing American sports gear.  And one was wearing maize'n blue!  I could get used to this :)

Wednesday & Thursday were long, intense days.  But this was better than trying to get visas & bank accounts.  As Thursday closed, I was ready for my meeting on Friday.

Also, on Thursday night, the USA men's soccer team played Germany.  It was an International Friendly match played nearby in Cologne.  It was televised, so I watched the whole game, cheering for the visitors!  It was a great way to relax before my Friday meeting.  And the best part, the USA scored a late goal to win 2-1.

On Friday, I had my first work presentation.  I was pleased with how it went, but it seemed like a mixed bag from my boss.  But overall he was happy with my work, and he setup a Monday conference with the adidas team in Portland, USA.  While things were moving quickly, I couldn't complain.  Ending up inPortland would be ideal, and so getting myself exposure to them so quickly would be a great opportunity.  

I came home, and planned out my Saturday.  I needed to get out of my "apartment".  After my Herzo pool experience, my coworkers told me about an outdoor 50 meter pool 10km south of town.  I decided I would bike there, and then onto a bike shop, and make a loop home.  At least I had my bike for freedom, and no longer needed to rely on buses.

On Saturday, I was up early to try and avoid a crowded pool.  The GPS took me on a few dirt paths, but I eventually got to the Veitsbad.  The pool was nice, but again, no lane lines.  After an hour of more slalom swimming, I climbed out and headed for the bike shop.  I cruised through little towns and fields, and came up on the massive shop.  I had never seen such a selection.  People were even slowly testing out bikes on the shop floor!  I grabbed a much needed bike pump, but knew I'd be back for more.  I then headed into Erlangen to find the mobile phone store as l needed to put money on my plan.  The shop had someone that spoke English, so she helped me through it, and I was all set. When I got home, it was 30+ miles total!

On Sunday, I decided to hop on my bike again.  I planned out a 25 mile ride across the east and north of town.  Again exploring around the area.  I rolled from "dorf" to "dorf", passing other runners and cyclists as well.  The sports company presence was apparent, with others getting their exercise on a Sunday as well.

I closed out the weekend with some prep work for Monday, and also video chats with loved ones.  Time to tackle Week 4 at adidas...and another week on the floor.

All the sweet gear!

Go Blue!

Go Blue again!

I flipped over the helmet...

Veitsbad pool

50 meter outdoor pool

Stadler Bike Shop

Panoram of inside the bike shop 

Dave Germany: 12-14 (move to temporary apartment #2)

Weekend #2 was here.  And before moving out of my apartment on Sunday, I had a few new things planned for Saturday.  I had been walking past an outdoor pool everyday in Herzo, and was also craving a little water exercise.  So I grabbed my suit on the sunny Saturday morning and headed for the Freibad (pool).

I got there, and people were swimming laps.  There were starting blocks, lines along the bottom, but no lane lines.  And as logical as we know Germans to be, it was pretty impressive to watch them bumble around.  It'd be like driving down a road without lines.  But I hopped in, and just started swimming anyway.  I would describe my workout best as "slalom swimming".  After about 45 minutes, I got what I needed (sort of), and headed back for breakfast.

I took care of some things on my bike, watched a short movie, and also started to clean & organize for my move on Sunday.  I then met some of the adidas people for a couple hours down at the Herzo Old City festival.  But Saturday closed quietly, and I enjoyed my last night for awhile in a bed.

Sunday was all about laundry, finishing my pantry, and packing up.  My life was put back into suitcases again.  After a couple of 20 minute trips with bags, I got fully settled into my new "place" around 6pm.   I would have the corner of the common room for my stuff, but the price was right (free!).  It was 3 adidas guys slightly younger than me, each also doing an internship.  1 German guy inbusiness & 2 guys from India studying industrial engineering.  They were very welcoming & pleasant, and as the evening closed, we had great conversation.

It was time for bed, but the couch was too small.  So I pulled off the cushions, put them on the floor, and slept there.  It was not how I imagined my 3rd week would begin, but I also realized it could be much worse.

On Monday morning at 5am, I learned what time the sun comes up.  And I also learned that the Indian guys get up at 7am.  And as the week would go on, I knew when the bathroom or kitchen was being used.  But I was strangely happy that I had managed to find a free temporary place to stay in less than 2 weeks.

I still got to work via shuttle, and could actually start doing work things!  I started on my training modules for simulation software.  And I realized I could finally focus on work.  My mind wasn't stressing and drifting off about apartments.  When the work day would finish, I would grab groceries and then headed back to my place.  There was no room in the fridge, so I ate mostly bread and dips.  Since I didn't have a key, I also didn't have the luxury to come and go.  But as I said, things could have been much worse.

Monday night came to close, and I had survived 2 weeks!  But my goodness, it had felt much longer.  And, as a perspective, I had been in Australia only 4 weeks ago.  Life was seeming a bit crazy at the moment.  It was being broken up into 2 week segments. And it would be ~2 weeks in this current situation.  Maybe thats why its also called a "fort night"...because its just about defending and surviving.

The friebad (pool)

My first swim in Germany!

Germans trying to swim at Herzo pool

My 3 new roommates

My corner in the world

The kitchen

The common room

View out the window

Dave Germany: 11 (Nuremberg & a bike)

On Friday, getting to Nuremberg required a bus from Herzo to Erlangen, and then a regional train to Nuremberg.  The weather was cooperating for my long day of exploring, it was clear & sunny.  I was expert at this point with the buses, but I realized that if I had a bike on the way home, I would have to ride it back.  No sign of bikes on buses.

I had looked up the train schedule, so I knew that several trains were between 9-10am, which meant I didn't need to fret catching an exact train.  I walked up to the train station, and headed over to the Bahnfahrkarte (ticket) kiosk.  They had an English button!  It was glorious.  I grabbed my roundtrip fare, then hopped on the Hersbruck train headed for Nuremburg Bahnhof.

Again, my eyes were glued to the world outside.  I was viewing and learning the next radius of societal distance from me.  We rolled through the suburb city of Furth, and then into Nuremberg.  I walked around the train station a bit, to see what maps and info I could gather.  Usually I would just depend on my smart phone, but my remaining data was low and I wanted to save that for if/when I used my GPS to bike home.  (And even that is a luxury...people years ago had a paper map at most!)

So I walked out of the train station, and was right next to the wall of the Altstadt (old city).  The city center is surrounded by this huge medieval wall (repaired from WW2 bombings).  I then walked through a gate, and wow, I had my first moment of the history of Germany!  Only pictures can describe the sights (see attached).  I continued to walk through the rest of the Altstadt.  Cobblestone roads, old churches, true Franconian Architecture everywhere.  Even a river ran through the town, so the bridge views were fantastic.

The main medieval attraction is the Imperial Castle.  It's up on a hill, so its towers & flags can be seen from the city.  And once you climb up to the castle, you can equally see above the city.  And I also saw that the beerfest was right by the castle.  What an awesome start to the day :-)

Then it was time for yoga.  Why not another challenge at this point?!  I followed my map to the studio, and made it for the 1pm Vinyasa class (no hot yoga in Nuremberg).  The lady at the desk spoke English, so it was easy to sign in.  As I was getting setup for class, the teacher walked over, and confirmed that I would be okay, since the whole class was in German.  I smiled and told her I had taken several classes before and would follow along by watching the poses.  Class started with me and ten older women, and sure enough, it was all jibberish.  But I managed quite well, and moving my body felt great.  I realized I was tight all over.

Class ended, and I showered up.  I filled up my water bottle, then headed out for lunch.  I was tempted to treat myself, but the site of a discount grocery suede my decision.  Bread & pasta sauce for less than 2 Euro.  I headed to the nearby park, and enjoyed my feast!

I then headed to the Franconian beerfest.  I showed up right as it started, which was perfect on a Friday, because I didn't want the sea of people.  Rather than 14 different large breweries (like at Erlangen), this one had 30+ smaller breweries.  I strolled around, and tried a few, but couldn't get too happy, since I was looking at my bike soon.

I was happy with my tame bierfest experience, and it was time to hike to the bike.  It was south of the main city, and about a 45 minute walk.  When I got there, the bike was in good shape.  The guy didn't speak English, so the negotiation capability was limited.  But for 200 Euro, I walked away with a bike!  New wheels!  I was moving up in the world!

It was already 5pm, so I decided to catch a train back to Erlangen and ensure I had daylight for my quest home via bike.  During the train ride back, I could tell my body was tired, but I had one more leg to go to make the day a Home Run.  I hopped off the train and started the slow trek back.  I quickly learned there are TONS of bike paths, connecting all the little towns.  And they are well marked.

While riding home, I felt a sense of comfort, calm, and familiarity.  Biking was soothing my soul.  I was finally doing something that my body and mind wanted to do.  I was even humming and smiling.  A day of yoga & biking...I can already see Nadine & Tanya smiling.

I made it home around 7pm, and of course was hungry.  The Herzo festival was still going on, so I wandered down for dinner.  Beer & bratwurst!  

After 11 days in Germany...I had a bike, an apartment (soft of), and an idea of what surrounded me.  And I still had 2 days of my weekend left.  I would prep for moving out.

Train to Nuremberg

View from outside Nuremberg Train Station

Just inside the Altstadt wall

View of the river

The imperial castle

Inside the castle

View from atop the castle

lunch

Frankchen bierfest in Nuremberg

Beer fest inside the castle moat

Where I had a beer

I agree!

My new bike