So much for a quiet week at work

OK, so I managed to have two quiet days in the office before the "ka-pow! let's get zany!!" show started. No, it's not just that I've already sat through a two hour staff meeting which was conducted partly in German and party in English (er, 90% German, 10% English), it's that I go to England to another of our repair sites all next week.

No real problem as far as I'm concerned, but I just signed a contract to work in Germany, and suddenly I'm not spending any time in the German office. However, my project involves both the UK and the German site, so I knew I would be involved in some fashion. Didn't realize that I'd be sleeping in some hotel in Colchester the week before Christmas, though...

Speaking of England, let's briefly talk Arsenal football. 0-0 draw with Porto got them through to the final 16 in Champs League, which won't resume until February 2007. Good. That will give me time to get things organized and give the club time to start playing better.

Arsenal are away at Chelsea this Sunday, and play right about the time I'll be riding through the countryside on the train from Liverpool Street Station. Just my luck that I didn't think to arrange my flight a bit better so as to see the match, but oh well.

Now, I don't want to start passing commentary on Germany, the people or the culture, but a few things have struck me in the five days that I've been here.
Taxi's are more expensive here than in Spain. Hopefully I'll solve this problem soon by organizing my own transportation. Oh wait, I'm going to be out of town the next couple of weeks...

Doner kebaps are spicier in Alemania. Incredible. Doner Kebaps are almost the only late night food available in Spain, and in recent weeks, I had to consume my fair share. Not the most healthy thing for you, but I'd argue that they're certainly more healthy than Taco Hell or even IHoP, particularly my type of IHoP excursion.

While kepab places in Spain are usually tasty, they're also usually run by non-Spanish. The place in Meliana was predominately Rumanian (??), but most I've seen are Turkish or Indian. In my experience in Spain, all of the kepab houses spoke Spanish and English.

Imagine my surprise in Darmstadt (where everyone seems to speak quite a bit of English), then, when I encountered a kepab house where they didn't speak English (and certainly not Spanish). I struggled to get the right thing ordered (probably didn't help that I kept using Spanish words), but the result was excellent. Here, they put a bit of super spicy crushed pepper on everything, and I now know where I can satisfy my hot fix for comida picante.

I'm suffering from a bit of a cold at moment, but certainly felt better after chowing through a couple of spicy kebaps.

The language barrier will be a problem for me, mainly because I feel like such a dolt for knowing so little German. Almost everyone speaks a fair amount of English, which is impressive. There are small, humorous mistakes made from time to time. My office companion has a habit of using "BE" any time he needs to use a conjugation of the verb "to be". Thus, I might hear, "This be where you can drink coffee."

In my hotel, I had to request laundry service, and the cute St. Pauli girl working at the front desk said, "Sure, no problem. Where is your luggage?" This question confused me enough that I started immediately babbling in Spanish, English, and a few German words I created, which ultimately confused the matter enough that the employee had to get a colleague to help. At least I'm getting my clothes clean.

This evening, I'm headed into Frankfurt to check out the sights, and hopefully get an idea as to where I might find a decent apartment (within budget).

Hopefully a few pils will help my cold, and I can always have another kepab.

Let's go Arsenal! We need a lot of fortunate luck to win at Chelsea Sunday, but I believe. It's called keeping the faith.

Tschüs!
Bryan

soundtrack:
Robbie Williams live in Leeds. (don't know if this is available on CD or not, but I saw the vid last night on German music channel)
Juli - Dieses Leben (ok, I don't know much about German rock music, but the lead singer of this rock band looks really cute in a red and black striped sweater. And that is certainly reason enough to buy an album...)