I'm ready to be back in the states. This song seems fitting.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Bye bye Wien!
I'm ready to be back in the states. This song seems fitting.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Bye bye Brno!
Well this is pretty much it. I am hours away from departing Brno for Vienna, and 2 days away from returning to the states.
Last week I used the bulk of my remaining vacation time to travel to Venice where I stayed with Federico. Overall it was a great time full of relaxation and walking around. I will discuss this later as I have a metric ton of photos to review.
On Monday I learned from work that I still had vacation after my trip to Italy, meaning my work would end Tuesday afternoon at noon. I spent most of Monday going through my files and preparing to transfer all of my work to my colleagues. The last couple of hours were spent in the sim preparing scenarios for an evaluation. For dinner my co-workers in the Human-Centered Systems division met for dinner.
Yesterday I finished everything at work and left after lunch. Set my bank account up to close after my last paycheck is issued and to transfer the money back to the states.
This morning I went to the grocery store to recycle the rest of my beer bottles and buy some snacks for the road.
I do not know what else to say. I've been ready to leave, but its just strange to close the door on this experience now. I also don't know what to expect when I get back to the states.
Last week I used the bulk of my remaining vacation time to travel to Venice where I stayed with Federico. Overall it was a great time full of relaxation and walking around. I will discuss this later as I have a metric ton of photos to review.
On Monday I learned from work that I still had vacation after my trip to Italy, meaning my work would end Tuesday afternoon at noon. I spent most of Monday going through my files and preparing to transfer all of my work to my colleagues. The last couple of hours were spent in the sim preparing scenarios for an evaluation. For dinner my co-workers in the Human-Centered Systems division met for dinner.
Yesterday I finished everything at work and left after lunch. Set my bank account up to close after my last paycheck is issued and to transfer the money back to the states.
This morning I went to the grocery store to recycle the rest of my beer bottles and buy some snacks for the road.
I do not know what else to say. I've been ready to leave, but its just strange to close the door on this experience now. I also don't know what to expect when I get back to the states.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
The Hourglass
Like an hourglass, my bottle of Tabasco has signaled that time has run out. I have only 2 weeks left in the Czech Republic or I will die from lack of flavorful "zing."
I haven't been writing much since Seattle, mostly because during the month of May I didn't really do a lot of fun or interesting activities. I went to work, came back, ate dinner, went to bed. And although I had plenty of interesting thoughts and ideas for blog posts (notably a rant on the human factors of this country's transportation system), I just didn't feel like writing. Since the end of May however, I have done some fun things and I'll describe those shortly.
Work has been a steady stream of writing, meetings, and about 2 straight weeks of working on a scenario and script for a simulation experiment. I wrote my evaluation report from my Redmond trip and made recommendations which I hope will be implemented soon. I started on a detailed design for a project using Illustrator, however Illustrator interface is in Czech and even my colleagues can't help because most words from the program do not have a direct Czech translation. I learned to program scenarios using MS Flight Simulator, although it was not easy or fun.
Right after my Redmond trip I visited Valtice which is south of Brno. The town is part of a large landscaped region known as the Valtice-Lednice Cultural Landscape. The land was originally owned by the Lichtenstein family, who built castles, hunting lodges, gardens, and monuments throughout the area. I wanted to bike through the landscape, but couldn't find a rental place on a Sunday.
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| Valtice Castle |
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| Near the edge of one of the gardens looking back at the town |
Throughout May, I kept seeing an advertisement for a "doctor." Seeing the photo, I figured no one would actually give this guy a license to practice medicine and figured the advert was a "doctor plumber", tongue-in-cheek kind of thing. The photo is ridiculous. The man is trying to keep a firm expression, but the photo tells more of a story. He has long hair, and one of his curls sneaks out from behind his neck. The curl is kinda like "hello there!" So here you are: a man with a firm expression, but subtle cues that tell you "I'm being serious for the cameras, but you know how I roll. I'm cool, I still party."
My colleague informed me he is Professor Jan Keller, a communist party sociologist running for European Parliament. Figures.
For my birthday I decided to take off work and travel to Cesky Krumlov, a place which was recommended to me. I booked a bus which connected through Prague and figured the connection would be at the same bus terminal I arrived at in Prague. Turns out however, I had to take the subway to another bus station. I did not realize this until about 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to depart. So I was stranded in Prague, what a tragedy.
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| One of my new favorite places in Prague |
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| Arriving in the square next to the town hall I got a surprise: a dixieland jazz band. |
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| Breakfast Kolac on the river Vtlava. Poppyseed, cream cheese and strawberry. |
In the evening I visited a few pubs, mostly ones that served my favorite beer, Kozel.
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| How it starts. |
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| Fascinating phenomena. Beer-rings. |
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| How it ends. |
On the night of my birthday I attended a concert of 4 strings and a trumpet playing George Gershwin composed music. The music was incredible and the venue was the Spanish Synagogue, just as incredible.
Just last weekend, my mentor Daniela invited me to travel to Kromeriz (unpronouncable) with a visiting lecturer. The castle in Kromeriz was apparently a filming location for the movie "Amadeus." We didn't see all of it, but the castle has lovely gardens.
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| Bentley. Wish I was in Le Mans this week! (too expensive) |
Thats all for now.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Seattle
The work trip to Seattle initially started off well enough. Because my flight left so early on Tuesday, I had decided to go to Vienna the day before and stay with the Sonnwebers. Got to the train station, it smelled like dog crap, but it always smells like dog crap. Got on the train and took my seat. Being in the last car we were the first to have our tickets checked. I showed my ticket on my phone to the conductor and he grinned and appeared to be searching for words. I thought he was about to complain because he couldn't just stamp my ticket like the others. Being about the most outwardly polite and friendly Czech national I had met, he told me that once we cross the border, the Austrian train crew would not accept my electronic ticket (seems backwards to have the Austrians be behind the curve). Additionally I had purchased my train ticket for the wrong day. This meant that I had to purchase a Czech ticket on the train, then get off and purchase an Austrian ticket at the border. His friendliness did not help ease my frustration with myself. At Breclav I jumped off the train and ran to the ticket office, dragging my suitcase. Ran back and got on.
Arriving at Wien-Meidling I purchased a ticket for the underground and proceeded downtown to meet up with Toby. It was immediately apparent how much easier to learn public transportation was in Austria compared with the Czech Republic. Knowing Toby had said his family would not be home until later, I walked around and got a coffee. I eventually ended up at a Croatian cafe that looked nice. I ordered a tall beer and the specialty for the day: sausage with goat cheese and tomato sauce. After finishing I ordered another beer and pulled out the copy of "The Sun Also Rises" I have been trying to finish for the better part of 2 years. I find it difficult to finish, as I see where the plot is going and I don't really like it. Anyways, a street cafe in Vienna with a beer seemed like the ideal way to enjoy the book, and it was. All afternoon the weather was teetering between decent and rainy with a breeze; weather that I appreciate. Eventually I met up with the Sonnwebers and managed to have a great meal of smoked fish and asparagus (with breadcrumbs).
The public transportation system in Vienna does not wake up early, so I had to take a cab to the airport at 4am. I didn't actually book my tickets so all I knew was that I was flying Lufhansa to Frankfurt to Seattle. I did not realize the first leg of the flight was through Austrian Airlines. I walked up and down the terminal looking for the Lufthansa check-in counter but only saw Austrian. I tried opening a door which promptly set off an alarm. I walked away as nonchalantly as possible. At about 5am the check-in counters were manned and it was apparent that I was flying Austrian. Made it to Frankfurt and spent most of my time watching the flight line. Of note was the fact that in this airport, apparently 2 toilets per gender per every 10 gates was thought to be sufficient. Maybe....if the gates were regional, but these gates were handling 747's, 777's, A330's, and A340's, all with over 300 passengers aboard.
I was in the center row, not in an aisle seat, so it wasn't exactly comfortable. The seats in front of me were occupied by 3 mothers and their infants or toddlers and one business traveler. Until the flight attendant asked the business traveler if he would prefer an aisle seat. Thinking she was going out of her way to help him, he said no I'm fine. She tried again and said he would switch seats with a mother and child. He again said, no I'd rather stay here and work. At this point it was obvious that she was not giving a favor, but asking for one. It was the 3rd or 4th attempt where the attendant finally said, "I am sure you will not get much work done here as there will be children climbing all over the place for 10 hours." He reluctantly agreed. The rest of the flight was uneventful, I watched American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel. I had thought the latter movie was a Wes Anderson Film, but apparently it wasn't. Either way it killed a few hours.
Got off the flight, grabbed my rental and drove to Redmond. I don't remember much after that. Wednesday I hung around Redmond for dinner trying to re-aquatint myself with the food I ate before I moved to Europe: Thai, Mexican and Chinese. I also had a list of things to do in the US: ship winter clothes home, buy summer clothes, get a haircut, make sure my new phone works in the states. Got the haircut because I was anxious about getting one using Czechglish to communicate. Bought some short sleeve shirts that I could wear to work or on the weekends and a pair of shorts. Shipped the winterweight clothes home. My new phone, the Samsung SIII Mini was supposed to work on the Verizon network, however apparently there are 2 versions of this phone and mine would only work with T-Mobile (WCDMA Network).
Thursday I went to downtown Seattle to see Pikes Place Market. I walked up and down the shore taking photos and looking for a place to eat. The view was spectacular to the West. The sun was setting behind windswept cumulus clouds. I finally found a shooting location on top of a convention center. There was another photographer shooting with a Nikon right at the ideal spot, so I did my best to shoot around him and wait for him to leave. After realizing he had been here for a few hours and probably wouldn't leave until it was completely dark I conceded to the fact that I had gotten the best out of my wide angle lens and let other people take photos. I ate dinner and walked towards my car. On the drive back I realized that there was a parking ticket under my wiper blades. Despite the fact that I purchased a spot for the entire evening, I was given a ticket. Apparently I did not display the ticket (I thought it was an automated process- some computer somewhere would let the ticket person know I had purchased a pass). Eventually I sent a photo of my pass and the ticket to the parking office and the ticket was dismissed. I don't remember what I did Friday other than do work.
Saturday I drove around Redmond and Bellevue to explore, but was frustrated by the constant traffic. It appeared to me that these towns were not built for such high volume of traffic. I eventually went home after sitting around at a model airplane field watching some gas powered model aerobatics.
Sunday I woke up and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I chose Bainbridge because it was the first place I saw I could go. Had some coffee after I got off the ferry then took a walk around town and on a trail. Had lunch and visited the local historical museum. Apparently Bainbridge Island was one of the first places to have Japanese families relocated after WW2 started. A shocking artifact was the senior class photos taken in September 1941 and 1942; the latter being half the size and entirely comprised of people of European descent. I found the museum from a poster advertising an Ansel Adams exhibit, although it did not exactly pan out that way. The Adams photos were those taken in the internment camp and were not printed in the highest quality (not original prints). Afterwards I drove around the island and got lost. The scenery was green, with only a few hints of the spectacular horizon to the North and South of the island.
After my last day of work I decided I couldn't live without getting to fly a seaplane, so I went to Kenmore Air's headquarters in Lake Washington and took an introductory flight.
It was great to be in the cockpit again. Especially on a beautiful day. Did a couple of landings and takeoffs on Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. It was the clearest day since I had arrived and you could see all the surrounding mountain ranges. Loved every minute of flying that Cub.
The trip back was uneventful except for some sudden clear air turbulence and a toddler who screamed and cried most of the flight. Took a bus from Vienna to Brno and saw the countryside. It reminded me of Iowa and brought back great memories.
I think that's it. I'm sure I could talk more but I wont.
Arriving at Wien-Meidling I purchased a ticket for the underground and proceeded downtown to meet up with Toby. It was immediately apparent how much easier to learn public transportation was in Austria compared with the Czech Republic. Knowing Toby had said his family would not be home until later, I walked around and got a coffee. I eventually ended up at a Croatian cafe that looked nice. I ordered a tall beer and the specialty for the day: sausage with goat cheese and tomato sauce. After finishing I ordered another beer and pulled out the copy of "The Sun Also Rises" I have been trying to finish for the better part of 2 years. I find it difficult to finish, as I see where the plot is going and I don't really like it. Anyways, a street cafe in Vienna with a beer seemed like the ideal way to enjoy the book, and it was. All afternoon the weather was teetering between decent and rainy with a breeze; weather that I appreciate. Eventually I met up with the Sonnwebers and managed to have a great meal of smoked fish and asparagus (with breadcrumbs).
The public transportation system in Vienna does not wake up early, so I had to take a cab to the airport at 4am. I didn't actually book my tickets so all I knew was that I was flying Lufhansa to Frankfurt to Seattle. I did not realize the first leg of the flight was through Austrian Airlines. I walked up and down the terminal looking for the Lufthansa check-in counter but only saw Austrian. I tried opening a door which promptly set off an alarm. I walked away as nonchalantly as possible. At about 5am the check-in counters were manned and it was apparent that I was flying Austrian. Made it to Frankfurt and spent most of my time watching the flight line. Of note was the fact that in this airport, apparently 2 toilets per gender per every 10 gates was thought to be sufficient. Maybe....if the gates were regional, but these gates were handling 747's, 777's, A330's, and A340's, all with over 300 passengers aboard.
I was in the center row, not in an aisle seat, so it wasn't exactly comfortable. The seats in front of me were occupied by 3 mothers and their infants or toddlers and one business traveler. Until the flight attendant asked the business traveler if he would prefer an aisle seat. Thinking she was going out of her way to help him, he said no I'm fine. She tried again and said he would switch seats with a mother and child. He again said, no I'd rather stay here and work. At this point it was obvious that she was not giving a favor, but asking for one. It was the 3rd or 4th attempt where the attendant finally said, "I am sure you will not get much work done here as there will be children climbing all over the place for 10 hours." He reluctantly agreed. The rest of the flight was uneventful, I watched American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel. I had thought the latter movie was a Wes Anderson Film, but apparently it wasn't. Either way it killed a few hours.
Got off the flight, grabbed my rental and drove to Redmond. I don't remember much after that. Wednesday I hung around Redmond for dinner trying to re-aquatint myself with the food I ate before I moved to Europe: Thai, Mexican and Chinese. I also had a list of things to do in the US: ship winter clothes home, buy summer clothes, get a haircut, make sure my new phone works in the states. Got the haircut because I was anxious about getting one using Czechglish to communicate. Bought some short sleeve shirts that I could wear to work or on the weekends and a pair of shorts. Shipped the winterweight clothes home. My new phone, the Samsung SIII Mini was supposed to work on the Verizon network, however apparently there are 2 versions of this phone and mine would only work with T-Mobile (WCDMA Network).
Thursday I went to downtown Seattle to see Pikes Place Market. I walked up and down the shore taking photos and looking for a place to eat. The view was spectacular to the West. The sun was setting behind windswept cumulus clouds. I finally found a shooting location on top of a convention center. There was another photographer shooting with a Nikon right at the ideal spot, so I did my best to shoot around him and wait for him to leave. After realizing he had been here for a few hours and probably wouldn't leave until it was completely dark I conceded to the fact that I had gotten the best out of my wide angle lens and let other people take photos. I ate dinner and walked towards my car. On the drive back I realized that there was a parking ticket under my wiper blades. Despite the fact that I purchased a spot for the entire evening, I was given a ticket. Apparently I did not display the ticket (I thought it was an automated process- some computer somewhere would let the ticket person know I had purchased a pass). Eventually I sent a photo of my pass and the ticket to the parking office and the ticket was dismissed. I don't remember what I did Friday other than do work.
Saturday I drove around Redmond and Bellevue to explore, but was frustrated by the constant traffic. It appeared to me that these towns were not built for such high volume of traffic. I eventually went home after sitting around at a model airplane field watching some gas powered model aerobatics.
Sunday I woke up and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I chose Bainbridge because it was the first place I saw I could go. Had some coffee after I got off the ferry then took a walk around town and on a trail. Had lunch and visited the local historical museum. Apparently Bainbridge Island was one of the first places to have Japanese families relocated after WW2 started. A shocking artifact was the senior class photos taken in September 1941 and 1942; the latter being half the size and entirely comprised of people of European descent. I found the museum from a poster advertising an Ansel Adams exhibit, although it did not exactly pan out that way. The Adams photos were those taken in the internment camp and were not printed in the highest quality (not original prints). Afterwards I drove around the island and got lost. The scenery was green, with only a few hints of the spectacular horizon to the North and South of the island.
After my last day of work I decided I couldn't live without getting to fly a seaplane, so I went to Kenmore Air's headquarters in Lake Washington and took an introductory flight.
It was great to be in the cockpit again. Especially on a beautiful day. Did a couple of landings and takeoffs on Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. It was the clearest day since I had arrived and you could see all the surrounding mountain ranges. Loved every minute of flying that Cub.
The trip back was uneventful except for some sudden clear air turbulence and a toddler who screamed and cried most of the flight. Took a bus from Vienna to Brno and saw the countryside. It reminded me of Iowa and brought back great memories.
I think that's it. I'm sure I could talk more but I wont.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
The (mostly) Food Post
So after posting my last entry, I realized there was a bunch of photos on my phone I haven't shared yet. Most of them pertain to food.
The first set of photos is one HF problem with the Czech Republic. Such cognitive dissonance. Red means "don't." Green means "do." Why is the door telling me what I should and shouldn't do? Ironically this door leads to the Human Centered Systems branch of Honeywell Advanced Technology Europe (not that they had any say in the design of the workspace).
I took the next set of photos on my way to a dinner with colleagues downtown. The left photo demonstrates a couple examples of modern design in old Brno. The phallic looking thing is a clock designed to look like a bullet. The bullet clock commemorates the battle that Brno had with the Swedes in 1645. When a spy from Brno learned the Swedish army would head home at noon the next day if the city was not taken, the mayor decided to ring the bells early to trick them into leaving an hour early. Every morning at 11am a little ball comes out of the bottom. Still need to get one of those. The photo on the right is just funny.
The pizza place where this menu was found came highly regarded from my supervisor. Last Friday I decided to try it. I walked in, sat at a table and waited for the server to come by. There was a slip of paper that read "2000" and I figured it was the receipt from the last people. Apparently it was a reservation and the server informed me. Looking around, there weren't any other tables open so I started to walk out. The server stopped me at the door and lead me to another room where she removed a reservation and seated me. This is something I am not yet used to- seating myself and having most of a restaurant in rooms other than the front room. My table was nice as I could look at a decent sized aquarium and it was quiet. The server brought me the menu and once again I had the feeling of being insulted. "She brought me the kids menu, is this like in France where the Parisians mocked us?" Upon closer inspection, it was just a zany menu with some zany options. I ordered the Sicilian which had stewed peppers, onions, salami, and a tomato-chili sauce that added heat. I definitely recommend it.
Before my Seattle trip I realized all my work electronics used Czech power plugs. Strange asking for a converter for the USA.
Another co-worker recommendation was Zelena Kocka. I was promised a new beer to try, good atmosphere and traditional Czech food. The beer tasted like an IPA and the Czech food was better than the company canteen! The wait staff was friendly and as attentive as you can get this side of the Danube. They misunderstood what I was saying and brought me another beer. No worries.
So when I first started work and my supervisor asked me how I was adjusting, I complained about the pizza I had tried. It had garlic, was greasy and made me sick. He promptly referred me to Pizza Zakki and Pizza Amici. Pizza Amici is just across the river/stream/creek/slow moving puddle near the dorms and delivers. I have been mostly happy with what I have ordered and I can place orders online, avoiding the embarrassment of not speaking Czech over the phone.
Behold....3 kinds of pork on pizza:
The first set of photos is one HF problem with the Czech Republic. Such cognitive dissonance. Red means "don't." Green means "do." Why is the door telling me what I should and shouldn't do? Ironically this door leads to the Human Centered Systems branch of Honeywell Advanced Technology Europe (not that they had any say in the design of the workspace).
I took the next set of photos on my way to a dinner with colleagues downtown. The left photo demonstrates a couple examples of modern design in old Brno. The phallic looking thing is a clock designed to look like a bullet. The bullet clock commemorates the battle that Brno had with the Swedes in 1645. When a spy from Brno learned the Swedish army would head home at noon the next day if the city was not taken, the mayor decided to ring the bells early to trick them into leaving an hour early. Every morning at 11am a little ball comes out of the bottom. Still need to get one of those. The photo on the right is just funny.
The pizza place where this menu was found came highly regarded from my supervisor. Last Friday I decided to try it. I walked in, sat at a table and waited for the server to come by. There was a slip of paper that read "2000" and I figured it was the receipt from the last people. Apparently it was a reservation and the server informed me. Looking around, there weren't any other tables open so I started to walk out. The server stopped me at the door and lead me to another room where she removed a reservation and seated me. This is something I am not yet used to- seating myself and having most of a restaurant in rooms other than the front room. My table was nice as I could look at a decent sized aquarium and it was quiet. The server brought me the menu and once again I had the feeling of being insulted. "She brought me the kids menu, is this like in France where the Parisians mocked us?" Upon closer inspection, it was just a zany menu with some zany options. I ordered the Sicilian which had stewed peppers, onions, salami, and a tomato-chili sauce that added heat. I definitely recommend it.
Oooh, fancy imported Bourbon! I was feeling a bit homesick, so I purchased a bottle of Jim Beam to help me unwind after I got home.
Before my Seattle trip I realized all my work electronics used Czech power plugs. Strange asking for a converter for the USA.
Behold....3 kinds of pork on pizza:
2 Posts in a day? I must have a lot on my mind.
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