Thursday, January 24, 2013

God Bless the USA

I've grown up in the United States hearing about how blessed I am to be a citizen of such a wonderful country. Am I really that lucky to have been born there? True, you hear stories about people suffering in third world countries, people being abused by totalitarian governments, and simply people that are not given the inalienable rights that we are allotted. I'm willing to admit here and now that I never thought much on the matter. Those things are thousands of miles away, and we have our own problems in the United States.

Walking back from lunch today, I was talking to a Master's student working at DLR until his graduation, Ali. He is originally from Iran, but has been in Germany for three and a half years now. He was telling me that when he left, everyone was trying to find a way to get out of the country before things got too bad, and they weren't allowed to leave. Their president, he said, is not liked by anyone in Iran.

When you are old enough to have free thoughts independent from the ideas of the government, you must supress these ideas and feelings. If you openly share your thoughts against the Iranian government, you risk your life. Many people have been killed trying to voice their opinions and oppositions to Iranian policies, but he said, "You don't hear about it because it's kept quiet by the media. They are afraid too." Could you imagine wanting to stand up for what you believe in, but you can't for fear of death? Ali told me he was one of the lucky people who was able to get out of the country. Who else thinks that about the country they live in?

What's funny about this is that I had just read a chain of emails from my fraternity brothers discussing the "cruelty and injustice...intolerance and opression" of our chapter's executive board for locking our kitchen when chapter meals are not in session. Long story short, food was constantly being taken from our kitchen and the area left a mess, so our Alumni Volunteer Council told our executive board that the kitchen is to be locked whenever meals are not being served.

Now, we have people making a huge deal out of the fact that they can't use the kitchen. Yes, I agree, we should be able to use the facilities we pay for (I also agree that it should be well-maintained and taken care of and that people should learn to clean up after themselves, but that's another story.). It simply made me laugh. I went from a conversation about not having the ability to speak freely, fearing for your safety, and fleeing a country to escape true opression. Then, I read a conversation (via email nonetheless) about the opression of not being able to use a facility that was not maintained by any means. It's amazing to me that when no real problems exist, the tiniest of problems can be blown so out of proportion.

How lucky are we in the United States that we have a military out their fighting to protect our country and, more importantly, the ideals it stands for? All so that we may sit at home and complain about not being able to use our kitchen or acting like an asshole because we "didn't get our morning cup of coffee" (like that is a legitimate excuse) or any of the things we take for granted on a daily basis.

How great is it that I can call out these people or the United States government without fearing for my life? How great is it that I am allowed to voice my own opinion, whether it be in line or opposing that of our policies? It's so easy to find something to complain about. He said, "Someone's personal problem is always the biggest problem in the world." What if it wasn't? What if we took the time to recognize that our problems are not as big as we make them out to be and move on?

Anyway, I just wanted to openly reflect on a conversation that opened my eyes to all of the liberties we have as United States citizens. We take a lot for granted, and I encourage you to take a moment to think about all of the greatness that surrounds your life. You live in a country where freedom is encouraged and defended daily. If nothing else, you can share your opinions, your grievances as openly as you wish, and you don't have to worry about losing your life over it. That, to me, is pretty cool.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Language Differences

Today, I was talking with Thimo at lunch, and we were discussing the difficulties of learning each language. I brought up the verb conjugations and pronouns associated with each word. He was telling me that these things are difficult for some Germans even. His example:

  • der Junge - "the (male) child" - The pronoun used here is "er" or "he".
  • das Mädchen - "the female child" - The pronoun used here is "es" or "it".
Now how does that make sense?

Then he got to his rant about the English language and how many of the same letter combinations have very different pronunciations. Again, he gave me an example. He said pronounce this word:
  • "gheoti"
I had no idea how to pronounce it. He said, "But you speak English, don't you?" Well, yes, but I still didn't know how to pronounce it. He offered to help me out.
  • "gh" makes an "eff" sound as in enough
  • "eo" makes a soft "i" sound as in luncheon
  • "ti" makes a "sh" sound as in function
Put them all together, and it is pronounced "fish". English is just as odd as any other language I guess.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Fußball in Bremen

Soccer is huge deal all over the world, and it's really too bad that we don't have this kind of pride in our teams. Last night, Matheus (the Brazilian) and I went to a Bundesliga (National League) soccer game in Weser-Stadion, the stadium for Werder Bremen (the local professional team here, pronounced "ver-der bray-men"). It was the first game of the second half of the season and Werder was playing Borussia Dortmund.

I was sitting in the train station before the game, and you could hear the fight songs of loyal fans making their journey in to cheer on their team. The Polizei were everywhere. I'm not sure if these fans are likely to get out of hand, but if I had to guess based on the number of police officers around, I would say it is highly likely. Fortunately, there were no outbreaks that I was aware of.

Matheus and I trekked down to the stadium a bit early to find tickets, which ended up being extremely easy to get at a ticket kiosk. I guess we lucked out. After that, we just walked around and absorbed the atmosphere. Both teams had an incredibly strong fan representation which made for a lot of trash talking and some friendly badgering. It was quite an exciting event to be a part of. It was also incredibly cold (-5 degrees Celsius).

But the temperature didn't change anything. When the game was about to start, we got to witness the fans of Bremen sing their fight song, "Wir sind Werder Bremen" (we are Werder Bremen). It was awesome to see the amount of pride these citizens took in their soccer team. I've never seen anything like it. People had flags and banners all over the stadium. We were apparently on the opposite side of the big cheering section that can be seen in the second photo above. They waved their flags and held up their banners throughout the entire game. Don't ask me how they did it. That takes a lot of determination.

First goal of the game within 10 minutes of the start... not good.

Unfortunately, the game did not go as we and the folks of Bremen hoped it would. Bremen lost the game 5-0, but the coolest part was the dedication to the team. Nobody left until there was about 5 minutes left in the game. Even at the end of the game, cheers could be heard for the Werder players. Granted, louder cheers consumed the stadium for Dortmund, but what do you expect? Overall it was a great experience that I will likely participate in again. I just hope that next time I can feel my toes and fingers after the game ends.
End of the match; stands still mostly full.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Bremen Town Musicians - The Brothers Grimm

A little bit of folklore to go with my current city. Some of the locals say that Bremen's claims to fame are the story of the Bremen Town Musicians and Beck's Beer. Thanks to Aunt Sharon for introducing me to the story before I arrived! :)


Bremen Town Musicians

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

A man had a donkey, who for long years had untiringly carried sacks to the mill, but whose strength was now failing, so that he was becoming less and less able to work. Then his master thought that he would no longer feed him, but the donkey noticed that it was not a good wind that was blowing and ran away, setting forth on the road to Bremen, where he thought he could become a town musician. When he had gone a little way he found a hunting dog lying in the road, who was panting like one who had run himself tired.

"Why are you panting so, Grab-Hold?" asked the donkey.

"Oh," said the dog, "because I am old and am getting weaker every day and can no longer go hunting, my master wanted to kill me, so I ran off; but now how should I earn my bread?"

"Do you know what," said the donkey, "I am going to Bremen and am going to become a town musician there. Come along and take up music too. I'll play the lute, and you can beat the drums."

The dog was satisfied with that, and they went further. It didn't take long, before they came to a cat sitting by the side of the road and making a face like three days of rainy weather. "What has crossed you, old Beard-Licker?" said the donkey.

"Oh," answered the cat, "who can be cheerful when his neck is at risk? I am getting on in years, and my teeth are getting dull, so I would rather sit behind the stove and purr than to chase around after mice. Therefore my mistress wanted to drown me, but I took off. Now good advice is scarce. Where should I go?"

"Come with us to Bremen. After all, you understand night music. You can become a town musician there." The cat agreed and went along.

Then the three refugees came to a farmyard, and the rooster of the house was sitting on the gate crying with all his might.

"Your cries pierce one's marrow and bone," said the donkey. "What are you up to?"

"I just prophesied good weather," said the rooster, "because it is Our Dear Lady's Day, when she washes the Christ Child's shirts and wants to dry them; but because Sunday guests are coming tomorrow, the lady of the house has no mercy and told the cook that she wants to eat me tomorrow in the soup, so I am supposed to let them cut off my head this evening. Now I am going to cry at the top of my voice as long as I can."

"Hey now, Red-Head," said the donkey, "instead come away with us. We're going to Bremen. You can always find something better than death. You have a good voice, and when we make music together, it will be very pleasing."

The rooster was happy with the proposal, and all four went off together. However, they could not reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in the evening they came into a forest, where they would spend the night. The donkey and the dog lay down under a big tree, but the cat and the rooster took to the branches. The rooster flew right to the top, where it was safest for him. Before falling asleep he looked around once again in all four directions, and he thought that he saw a little spark burning in the distance. He hollered to his companions, that there must be a house not too far away, for a light was shining.

The donkey said, "Then we must get up and go there, because the lodging here is poor." The dog said that he could do well with a few bones with a little meat on them. Thus they set forth toward the place where the light was, and they soon saw it glistening more brightly, and it became larger and larger, until they came to the front of a brightly lit robbers' house.

The donkey, the largest of them, approached the window and looked in.
"What do you see, Gray-Horse?" asked the rooster.

"What do I see?" answered the donkey. "A table set with good things to eat and drink, and robbers sitting there enjoying themselves."

"That would be something for us," said the rooster.

"Ee-ah, ee-ah, oh, if we were there!" said the donkey.

Then the animals discussed how they might drive the robbers away, and at last they came upon a plan. The donkey was to stand with his front feet on the window, the dog to jump on the donkey's back, the cat to climb onto the dog, and finally the rooster would fly up and sit on the cat's head. When they had done that, at a signal they began to make their music all together. The donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat meowed and the rooster crowed. Then they crashed through the window into the room, shattering the panes.

The robbers jumped up at the terrible bellowing, thinking that a ghost was coming in, and fled in great fear out into the woods. Then the four companions seated themselves at the table and freely partook of the leftovers, eating as if they would get nothing more for four weeks.

When the four minstrels were finished, they put out the light and looked for a place to sleep, each according to his nature and his desire. The donkey lay down on the manure pile, the dog behind the door, the cat on the hearth next to the warm ashes, and the rooster sat on the beam of the roof. Because they were tired from their long journey, they soon fell asleep.

When midnight had passed and the robbers saw from the distance that the light was no longer burning in the house, and everything appeared to be quiet, the captain said, "We shouldn't have let ourselves be chased off," and he told one of them to go back and investigate the house. The one they sent found everything still, and went into the kitchen to strike a light. He mistook the cat's glowing, fiery eyes for live coals, and held a sulfur match next to them, so that it would catch fire. But the cat didn't think this was funny and jumped into his face, spitting, and scratching.

He was terribly frightened and ran toward the back door, but the dog, who was lying there, jumped up and bit him in the leg. When he ran across the yard past the manure pile, the donkey gave him a healthy blow with his hind foot, and the rooster, who had been awakened from his sleep by the noise and was now alert, cried down from the beam, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Then the robber ran as fast as he could back to his captain and said, "Oh, there is a horrible witch sitting in the house, she blew at me and scratched my face with her long fingers. And there is a man with a knife standing in front of the door, and he stabbed me in the leg. And a black monster is lying in the yard, and it struck at me with a wooden club. And the judge is sitting up there on the roof, and he was calling out, 'Bring the rascal here.' Then I did what I could to get away."

From that time forth, the robbers did not dare go back into the house. However, the four Bremen Musicians liked it so well there, that they never left it again. And the person who just told that, his mouth is still warm.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Working Through a Language Barrier


I was lucky enough to get to see a division of my company, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR, German Aerospace Center), before I even started working in Bremen. While we were in Köln participating in our Intercultural Training course, we toured DLR Köln as our last activity before I departed. We got to see a lot of really cool things there, such as the European Astronaut Training Center and the DLR biological science facility. While we were learning about their project to land on an asteroid and collect material samples, we witnessed “Mission Control” live-chatting with one of the Astronauts aboard the International Space Station, which was really awesome! Having seen this branch of DLR, I was really excited to start my new job.

Hello from the ISS
I moved from Köln to Bremen on Tuesday. When I arrived, it was 10:00pm and dark. Since I don't have a permanent residence yet, I'm staying in a Backpacker Hostel that is approximately 6 km (3.5 miles) away from where I work. When I went to bed, I decided it would be a good way for me to see the city and get some exercise if I walked to work. Terrible decision! It was -5 Celsius, and for you non-engineers out there, that is about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Walking for an hour in that cold is not fun.

My first day of work in Germany went the same as a first day of work in the US would go. I had to fill out a lot of paperwork and promise not to give away any of DLR’s secrets. Filling out many of these forms is difficult because they are written in lawyer language, which nobody really understands. Now I was two layers out of the loop because these forms were written in German-law.

Jennifer, the project assistant for my department, took me around and introduced me to everyone. She helped me when they spook too quickly for me to comprehend what they were saying. She’s a very nice person and has been very helpful with the many issues I’ve had surrounding my living situation and paperwork. While going through the introductions, I met all of the other interns and grad students working through DLR. They are awesome and invited me to go to lunch with them! It was a great blessing to have them helping me because I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do for lunch.

One of the other interns, Matheus, is from Brazil and speaks about as much German as me. I have a feeling he and I will bond very quickly. One of the grad students, Thimo, was born and raised in Bremen. Two people with very different backgrounds, yet both are incredibly nice and helpful people. We may try to go to the Werder Bremen soccer game this weekend. It will be the game to kick off the second half of the season. I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens.
"Long Live Green and White"




Working is pretty exhausting because many of the conversations are in German and take a lot of focus and energy. Then, I have to read technical papers on redundant inertial measurement unit (IMU) systems to identify the appropriate geometry and application as a navigational device. My project will be incorporated into DLR's SHEFEX project. That also takes a lot of focus and energy. By the time the day is over, I am just about cashed out. It doesn’t help that I have been getting into work as the sun is rising and leaving after the sun sets. I’m looking forward to the weekend and getting to see Bremen in the daylight. Many people have told me that Bremen is a beautiful city with a lot of history.

Other than that, I had a very good experience setting up my bank account today. The entire conversation was in German! Granted, the banker spoke slowly and used many hand gestures to get his point across, but I was excited to have carried on the entire conversation in German with him. Things are coming together piece by piece. My biggest concern is not having a permanent place to live yet, but I’m keeping my spirits high for the moment.

Many exciting developments on the way. I’ll keep you up-to-date with everything, and hopefully I will have pictures of the city and a soccer game up after the weekend!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Unfamiliar Familiarity


Today, I attended mass at the Dom in Köln. Since the Dom is approximately 700 years old, I felt obligated to bring my best. Therefore, I suited up in my gray suit with a light pink shirt and a pink and gray striped tie. Nailed it! Others wore just about everything you could imagine. As in the United States, many of the older churchgoers wore fancier clothing, and my generation wore more casual clothing. Because it was very cold inside the Dom, most people left their coats on throughout the mass.


I got to the Dom around 9:45, a little bit ahead of time, for the “Hochmesse” (high mass). For safety sake, I sat beside an elderly man who I assumed knows the ins and outs of Catholic masses. For those of you who don’t know, Catholic masses are very regimented. I wanted to make sure I was kneeling or standing or singing at the right time. Fortunately, I guessed right, and he knew what he was doing! Thank goodness.

Inside the Dom is similar to a museum: it’s very beautiful and very cold. It didn’t help that the weather outside is -5 degrees Celsius (approximately 20 degrees Fahrenheit). Throughout the entirety of the mass, I could see my breath in front of my face. It was very cold, but life must go on.

In order to describe how I felt as the mass began, I must first warn you that I mean no disrespect by what I am saying. As the organs filled the entire room, I looked to the back of the Dom where the priests and alter servers (young boys from age 8 to 16) stood when I walked in. As is customary, the incense was burning, and smoke began to fill the room. To be honest, the loud music and massive amount of smoke made me feel like I was at a rock concert and Van Halen was about to run on stage. He didn’t. Mass went on as expected.

Throughout the actual vigil, I could understand very little. My German is not very good yet, but I could pick out words here and there. Having grown up in a Catholic parish, I picked up on some of the ideas and processes. They have the same ritual in Germany that we have in America where we shake hands and offer a sign of peace and good tidings. Most of the mass was very similar. A priest gave a homily (which I didn’t understand), the chorus of priests led us in song, and we had communion. Communion here was a bit different. In the US, communion is done in a very orderly fashion where each row takes its turn, adds onto the line up to the alter, takes communion, and files down the opposites side of the row to return to their seats. In Germany, communion is a free for all. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like people are fighting their way to the front, but it does not follow the same order. People make their way to the front, jump in one of the several lines, and wait as the priests passed out the bread to two or three of the lines at a time. It was definitely an interesting experience. It was nice too because while he gave the bread to my neighbor, I listened for the appropriate response (which was simply “Amen”).

Overall, Catholic masses in Germany were incredibly similar to their following in the US, except the whole different language part. It was incredible to take part in a mass in a building with the deep history that the Dom has. Supposedly, the Köln Dom houses the treasures the Three Wise Men “Drei Heilige Könige” (literally Three Holy Kings) brought to Jesus at his birth. It is also where Cardinal Frings gave his New Year’s Day homily giving the citizens of Köln permission to steal food if in dire need during the depression after World War II. So much history in such an unfamiliar place, yet such a familiar feel throughout the entire service.

Making Lemonade


Our first weekend in town, we wanted to go hiking at a mountain our professor, Herr Mainka, suggested. His writing is not quite legible, and he explained all of the directions in German. We got most of it but were still unsure of our route. Also, not having the internet access didn’t do us any favors. We bought tickets in the right direction and just went with it.

Halfway to our final destination, we had to change our route. We got off in Bonn to buy new tickets and transfer trains. The train we purchased tickets for ended up getting stuck (I think), and we had to “wing it” to try to get to our final destination. We looked at the schedule and a train was coming in a minute. It was headed the right direction, so we jumped on.

When we reached the destination partway between Bonn and our final destination, we exited to transfer again. Off in the distance you could see a mountain with what looked like a giant church and castle ruins. They looked really cool, but we didn’t know if we could get there. Also, we were already headed somewhere else. As it turns out, the only train headed where we needed to go was the one that was cancelled. Great… Now what? Time to go exploring and see if we can get to that mountain!


We started in that direction and bumped into an elderly woman. We asked her if we could get to the church and castle, and she said yes! She gave us directions and told us we needed to take the “Fähre”! None of us knew what that was, but we could definitely get to the base of the mountain now. As it turns out, Fähre translates to “ferry” in English. Now we were headed to this mystery mountain and taking a ferry across the Rhein River!


Across the river was a small town called Königswinter. This was exactly how I pictured Germany. Old styled buildings, brick streets, church in the center, and mountains in the distance. Along the way, we had to stop and ask more people for directions. These small town folks were super friendly and very helpful in getting us to our final destination. Again, we didn’t understand everything, but they collectively got us where we needed to be.


In the end we got to climb the mountain up to “Schloss Drachenburg” (Schloss = castle, Drachen = dragon). What is better than dragons and castles? Nothing! What we thought was a church was actually a more modern castle that was very beautiful inside and out. The ruins were part of an old castle on top of the mountain. All of it was part of a tourist attraction, and I can see why.
People are disregarding the beware of dragons sign...big mistake.
Our group climbing to the castle
















After finishing the touristy part, some of us chose to hike the nearby mountain. We decided that we would hike straight up instead of using the path, which led us to something incredible! We made it to the top and found ruins that were not accessible my any ordinary route. I would imagine it was some sort of lookout tower.

I played in the little stream. Needed to test my waterproof boots.


Overall, we had an excellent day. We didn’t make it to our intended destination, but we went somewhere awesome. We took the lemons we were given and made some pretty awesome lemonade, plus we got to practice some of our German along the way!

            
                                Our departure from Königswinter                  Justin attempting to break into a secret tunnel