Insalata Tomassoo

2 Tomatoes

1/2 Cucumber

1 can of Caracoles Chilenos (Chilean Sea Snails), coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

TJ's Organic Flaxseed Oil (High Omega-3 Fatty Acids)4-5 Tablespoons (my "other" anti-cancer regimen)

Juice from 1/2 Lime

1 small bunch of fresh cilantro

Pepper (freshly ground), 6-7 turns of the mill

Instant Beef Bouillon (throw two fingertips)

Several splashes of hot sauce to taste.

1 teaspoon dried Cumin, 1 teaspoon dried Sumach.

Mix

Enjoy

In summer: white wine. Now its snow outside, so I go for read Bordeaux. Black olives are on the side not in the salad. The Caracoles can be substituted by Feta Cheese, green onions fit well too. And so does Avocado. Mint leaves might add too. But I haven't tried with this one.

A German Lunch.

This one goes without much comment, and, sorry: translating would spoil the tone & authenticity. Germans in the US will appreciate  this one I'm sure! I found it on the lid of my takeout dessert in our cafeteria! Just in case you ever wondered which nationality of immigrants brought the nonsensical US-disclaimer notes.
What surprises me is that I did not have to sign a counter-agreement that I will store the food properly or eat it right away. So, this is probably not legally binding !!! ;-))

And: Guys, read it thoroughly, there is so much in there, German is such a rich language ;-)

Shopping experiences and mental "re-germanification"

Chinese Supermarket. Hamburg, St. Georg, near the central railway station.
Long Line at the cashier, I got my stuff (frozen dumplings, rice, various hot sauces, a few hard-to-get vegetables) on the little conveyor belt to the cashier. When it is my turn, an asian lady in front of me is grabbing my stuff. I interfer, "excuse me, I believe this is mine". She keeps on packing into bags. I am confused! Since I try to get my stuff together and she keeps on packing into bags... I am getting nervous, that I may loose my stuff. So I try to insist: "excuse me, I think you are packing my groceries in your bags"
Well , finally the customer behind me clarifies: "she is packing FOR YOU""they do that here, I had to get used to that too at first"


*****

BOAH!!!!!BUMMER!!!!!!!

*****

HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE!!!  OMG!!!!

I am back too long!! I got used so much to the German-supermarket practice, you pay and at the very same time you are supposed to have your stuff packed away, because if you don't you will have the next -annoyed- customers stuff pushed right on top of your groceries and you have a hard time to find out what belongs to you or to him/her.

Hell, I am SO STUPID, already this German supermarket -thing has settled SO much into my habits that I do not recognize anymore, if it is different, actually if its the way I had it for the whole 9 years in San Diego!!!

Guess I am rapidly re-Germanizing ;-)) Well, THATS a novel way to make  a fool out of myself!!!

First winter is LONG

well, maybe too early this entry about a long and cold winter, but if you see the pictures in the news (NEWS? difficult in the US, I know) you can tell that currently the whole northern hemisphere is freezing cold, I sincerely hope these stories about low solar activity and lack of sunspots (small ice age, Maunder Minimum) turn out wrong and hysteric. Either way, I completed my second (and hopefully last excursion to IKEA on tuesday, IKEA Moorfleet, located at the END of the inhabited world!!): snow was falling hard, so I could have postponed. but the urge to finally get it over with is too strong (I wanted to go last fridayalready, I am getting tired of liveing between boxes, and need furniture/closets/shelves for storage, finally!) Alex also needs stuff and is accompanying me. AS the snow fall gets worse I am calling Star Car the rental agency: " Do your cars have winter tires?" Answer: "they have year-round tires" Ah well, this must be a "Hamburgism". At least in Bavaria , in winter people are now required by law to have winter tires , to reduce accidents and chaos on the streets. When we pick up the car and leave the parking lot a bicyclist slips on the icy road in front of the parking lot and falls flat on the road, but who rides a bicycle in this weather???? (and what idiot rents a transporter with rear-wheel drive and "year-round-tires" in this weather????)

BTW, the lady at Star Car gives me a long story, how it would be too expensive for the company to change tires every winter. Hell, how about the repairs when people trash their cars??? and about buying cars and tires in the first place??? "sorry , we cannot offer you a car with tires, imagine how expensive that would be for the company if we would actually have to buy tires for all our cars" ????? What kind of argument is that, please???

Well, I do not want to bore you guys with a detailled description of a long ride on icy streets in a snowy Hamburg, sliding tires in every curve, failing to get intoi the institute driveway (uphill 0.3% incline).

The whole ride we listen to the traffic reports "careful for a non-secured accident with a truck in Freeway soandso" this sentence is repeated for literally EVERY freeway in the larger Hamburg area. Coming back we take the regular road: we pass through harbor area, and should we get stuck, God help us, there are no bus-lines here. (Neither people, just container-loading areas and storage halls) the deserted areas pass without accidents, the first Aldi-stores and rather raunchy looking "Automatenkasinos"

(gambling machine etablissements/halls, don't know a good word for it, they call these things "casinos", they are typically run down, smell bad and you don't wantto spend your time there. period.)

re-appear, back in "civilization"!!!! after passing through Hammerbrook, a harbor -associated suburb with mostly big bureau buildings, we almost have reached Hamburg again. Every curve is associated with sliding tires maximum speed reached is probably 30 km/hour. Some carts get annoyed, but I always see the 700Euro deductible in my mind, so I don't care about some smartass Hamburg-driver being annoyed about me being slow. They can pass and trash their cars without me.

First we have to unload at Alex's place. despite of an almost level street, the car gets stuck when I try to make a U-turn(!), with tires spinning through freely in the snow, and believe me I drove in snow MANY times! I have to sacrifice my newly purchased doormat to get the damn car going again. after unloading by stuff I am sending Alex home and take the car back to star car I resist on peeing into the car, to voice my opinion about the "year-round-tires". No more desaster, but when I am home, of course it is past midnight. We left at 4pm.

But now I'm all set and will post pictures when the apartment is finally done!

All over I will be happy when I can siton the grass in the sun and have my beer at the beach again (The"Strandperle" beach-bar should be reachable on foot from my new place now!)

Take care more soon as things happen!

Delayed Entry

Hello everybody! I wrote this blog entry on thursday, after coming home from my hosting-institute (the HPI) Christmas Party, but then I forgot to press the "publish" button. (well it was late). -ANYWAY, better late than never: so here the delayed entry:

First Snow in Hamburg:

NO, its not the first snow EVER, but the first snow THIS WINTER!

before I go into detail, and as an explanation: Hamburg is situated in the north of Germany, and as such gets a glimpse of "oceanic climate" (the North Sea is close by), which means the Gulf Stream keeps ice and bitter cold away, at least usually:

It has been unusually cold the last couple of days, but not enough: Tonight-SNOW is falling!!! I have spent the evening at the Christmas party of the HPI-institute. (While attending the entertainment program outside the weather changes (yes, different from beautiful Southern California, actually Hamburg has WEATHER, means it CHANGES ALL THE TIME!!): It STARTS SNOWING, having lived here before I know already : trouble lingers tonight. Having to get up early tomorrow, I'm heading to the bus with two other early-takeoffs (shame on me), two of my lab-mates: Alex, my tech, and Magda a new technician in the lab. I am looking into an 8am mouse-appointment tomorrow, so I'm not up to late night drinking and dancing. The streets are icy and the cars move at about 5 km per hour. No bus. Usually they come every 5 minutes. Finally (after 20 minutes in the cold) a bus arrives. Halfway down the road the bus surprisingly turns into a side street. At the next intersection it turns back on the mainroad just to stop 50 meters down the road: "Final Stop" comments the driver through the speakers. COME ON!! its 11:30 and the bus stops halfway to its destination in the middle of nowhere!!! Guess that was an order form the boss. It seems, we have to get a cab! So much for winter services in Hamburg.

0.5 cm of snow and all traffic collapses, drivers get out of their cars hugging in tears facing such "unheard-of natural disaster", and the city is in paralysis. Finally we arrive in Altona. I wonder what happens if ever ¡helpusgod!, there might be 5cm(!) of fresh snow (a very common thing to happen in Bavaria for instance). Well the winter service is on the roll and salt is dispensed onto the frozen asphalt. Kind of insufficient. Not what would happen in Bavaria. It feels more like the guys from the cafeteria wander around with their little salt dipensers for the French Fries. It was the same 9 years ago when I left Hamburg. learning curve? I' say: There IS room for improvement here.

I wonder if I can make it to my mouse appointment tomorrow morning: I put my alarm to 6am.Will keep you posted! Goodnight for now!

(-actually, I made my 8am appointment! And the streets were clear, so not all bad. -added at time of posting. T.)

Home_Not Home?

Coming back from San Diego (the long-announced thanksgiving "vacations") I realize I am subconciously confused about where I am: I realized this during an early-morning discussion with Hui, which was about if it makes sense to call my mother at 7 am SD time: me insisting that my mom "lives in the same time zone now"!!

OK, true for HAMBURG, but Thomas: Discussing with Hui means I am in SAN DIEGO and that is minus 9 hours to Germany!!!! But I was SO sure I am right, telling me I was seriously confused. For the last 10 years travelling overseas and meeting old friends always meant snowy Christmas and Germany. Now it was sunny Thanksgiving and San Diego. The Keywords:

• Holidays-eat-a-lot
• Travel-far-away
• meet-with-friends

Seem sufficient to create a time warp and deep confusion about my origins and whereabouts. Just this time with an "inverse prefix" (can you say that in English?)

Is it the Green Card that magically creates a "Home" for the Thomas, the "Resident".... Hey, this time I got the "Welcome Home, Sir"-treatment at the border. In fact I will, as things develop (scientifically) try to create work-related reasons to come here several times a year. Weird how one becomes a divided personality between two countries after a while. I would have never expected that I become so attached to San Diego. But yes, of course a lot of things have happened here. Enough to easily fill twice the number of days. For me at least.

The main benefit of being a scientist: The "Travel Options".

I have to admit the departure was difficult this time. Not only the uncertainty with Hui and trying to get her somewhere near enough that a relationship makes sense. Also I had more time to think about things: The "first departure" in June was dominated by incredible hectic-ness and this kind of dwarfed by all the fore-bearings of new things to come: means, I did not have much time for reflection: very different this time.

Coming back and driving the all-too familiar, bumpy & poorly-repaired freeways (almost forgot) of San Diego and seeing people, business and all other life go on as before I left (...well, of COURSE!), is a very strange feeling, I can tell you. Like wearing an old pair of jeans which was forgotten in the closet for a long time. Frozen time. Oddly familiar. "Captain Thomas is experiencing a temporal anomaly". Actually I heard this before from others coming back the first time, but being in the situation is very different from hearing about it.

How sings Morrissey/The Smiths?

...I've seen this happen in other people's lives

And now it is happening in mine.

...I've seen this happen......

(that Joke isn't funny anymore. "Meat is Murder, 1985")

In my life since 1985 ;-), I had plenty of occasions to think of this song. Both Good and Bad.

Coming I realize how much I miss people, and the fact that with some very dear friends I haven't even had the chance to meet with, is very sad.

The Great Big Waber

Ok just came back. And I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed. The "Great Big Waber" The poster is great and lets me expect the big thrill. I think the picture is somewhere between a 1930's mystic show and Saddam Hussein being tortured and executed in a movie theater . And probably that is what I was hoping for this evening, naturally my expectations are not fulfilled. Getting there is (at least for me, easy, thank God I know the way). On the other hand: wandering at night into the 7th floor of an unlit, abandoned office building is not everybody's piece of cake. It awakens memories of "Clockwork Orange". Luckily I'm not a woman. Also luckily I'm not on the search (Hello, Hui!) because this is NOT the place to meet single women, each of whom has likely failed the test of courage.

When I get upstairs it is rather empty. After walking through the exhibits, I make my way to the bar. One beer is 2 Euros "suggestion for a voluntary donation" I love the art world! The exhibits are a bit disappointing, last time I was here I have seen some more interesting stuff: I like the line of dirt connecting two flower pots through several rooms:

Maybe not too impressive on the picture but in reality it certainly has something.

The branch of leaves is nice too, note my beer at the window, blending in seamlessly.

No, honestly, I do like this kind of artwork, although it is hard to grasp initially.

I have another beer: Comfortable couches and red/blue/green oscillating paper balloon lamps invite for a stay. Its not too cold either, as the organizers have set up a gas stove. The music is very nice actually some offbeat-latin-brazillo-funk-electro-jazz. I like it very much. I try Shazam: "Unrecognized" I try three more songs, same result every time. OK. Conclusion: when "Shazam" knows it, it must be terribly boring mainstream. Unfortunately nobody is with the music. Only metal boxes. To hell with MP3!! Where are the times when one could just ASK, hey, who is playing that?? Resolution of the evening: Next time I will be more investigative.

My only conversation with somebody new is with a short-haired MD student, she sits next to me on the couch. Hell, all those art people and I get to talk with an MD!!

Good thing : my new place will be really close, so I can come more often before it will be leveled for the new IKEA building. That might keep the "Waber"in the house, but then it will be the name for a bookshelf. Or a lava-lamp. ;-)

BTW already there is protest forming, the artscene doesn't want to loose its latest hideout (=art studios for free!!): They distribute adhesive stickers (in blue-and-yellow: "IKEA- Idioten kaufen echt alles (Idiots buy really everything). Although it is filling up gradually, I decide to leave, also because I'm still a virus-shedding coughing misery (not as bad as yesterday or even worse wednesday and thursday). So I have time to type this little report for you guys before I go to bed now. Goodnight!