Laura goes to the US: November 2005

Sunday, November 20, 2005

new york, new york

this is going to be the next entry about this spectacular city and my past week. we had some beautiful days, crazy Americans´ parties, opera, an amazing sight over the city, a football game, an accidentally German movie, the first frozen feet, the opening of the Christmas season, the new year's trip planned and an international lunch at work. So be excited! :) but now I have to leave
take care,folks!

Monday:
don´t even ask me what I did, I have no idea. I was probably shocked that it was Monday again and that another weekend had passed by... oh, I remember: the most remarkable things at that day were that i broke my shoe and stayed in office late

Tuesday:
got some sushi at a japanese restaurant just down the road which jackie and me had for diner with candlelight and singing to music. then we went to kind of an alternative video shop to get a good movie. i was really impressed they had all the good european movies. we watched All About Martha (Bella Martha). shame on me I didn´t even know it is a german movie. well, i did after the first sentence... german with english subtitles!!! i would have never ever dreamt of that! it was very weird to hear german in a movie. the plot, the actors and the way of filming was so german and so sterile at the same time this turned out to be the first desillusion about my good old warm germany.

Wednesday:
(my first macdonald´s food in the us! i had a stomach ache the whole day long...)
the great day had arrived: get ready for the opera in carnegie hall! we met at the new yorker siemens office (7th ave!) and headed out for diner in the rain (wet, wet, wet). we still had some time so we went to Marriott´s hotel at times square to enjoy the view & take some pictures. very impressive! it´s been quite a while that i listened to a classical event without participating. strange feeling! also, I didn´t understand one single word because they didn´t translate the italian words which was actually good. the accoustics in carnegie hall are a masterpiece and i was so much into the music i didn´t even realize the end. no way to go home then! i found a very nice bar with live latin american music and jens, krisztina and me stayed there until they closed.

Janin, Jens & me at Marriott´s (das im-dunkeln-fotografieren müssen wir nochmal üben...:))

Thursday:
tired! but sleep?? no way!! life kept me busy :) after a long decision seeking i made Zwiebelkuchen for the international lunch. (of course i bring some dish!) around 9pm we then went to Altagracia´s landmine party. she´s a friend of bill and involved in some organisation that helps to destroy landmines in various countries and iniciates anti-landmine-contracts between several countries. so she showed a little video with following discussion. there was enough food and music to have a nice party. most of them left "early" and the seven of us left started the real party - crazy as we are.... ;) finally we remet the rest at gaslight and it got even earlier...

patriotoc peanuts!

bill playing air guitar and bryan and chris starting their drums and broomstick microphone show...:)

Friday:
international lunch. all kinds of different food! and one even stranger as the other... except of the Zwiebelkuchen ;) just kidding! but it (=the onion cake) got really good! not like the stoned chocolate mousse... the worst were the cakes. oh my gosh, i have never eaten cakes with so much buttercream-chocolate-enriched-something! (even the decoration carrot on carrot cakes are butter-sugar-cream!) to give you an idea: how does chocolate-brownie-(you know that chocolate-dough-feeling)-peanutbuttercups-and-cookie-cake sound like? rich! i also found out that columbian meat has to stay as long in the pan until it gets almost black and dry as paper. but it was interesting!
that night i wanted to go to bed early but of course i didn´t. Bill and me made a contest who can clean his room faster. I won but I have to admit that he was not too fond of this idea for his own reasons... :)
Silvester we will spend on a boat cruise on the Hudson river. the best view of manhatten, 5 dishes meal, open bar, chic and dressy and party. the alternative would have been to go to times square to see the ball explode: be there at 3pm, fences around, if you leave there is no way to get back in, no food, no beverages, no toilets... easy decision!

Saturday:
Kitchenette, 123th St, Broadway: a gorgious place to have breakfast! that's what we did. Then finally I had the chance to see a live football game. It was the final game of the Ivy League, Lions (Columbia University,NYC) vs. Bears. It was fun but I was disappointed of the seize knowing how football is like at Purdue. Also, it was the first freezing(!!) day - sunny and clear. We sat on the Lions' side and they sucked! the hot chocolate couldn't warm up either - because of its incredible taste it was not allowed to enter my body. But it was still fun! and finally, i understood the rules... knock your enemy down, touch-down is 6 points, the goal right after one. juhey!
after we showed our critical faces and went shopping to Chinatown. no dvd sale on the streets that night but nice and cheap bags. real leather 25$, showing the critical face 20 bucks - good deal! crowdy and that special atmosphere as in almost every chinatown. then getting off the subway and a total different surrounding: going back to times square to meet Marc and have some diner in a chinese restaurant on broadway. nyc unifies every diverse kind of atmosphere and appearance of a city: just go down the subway stairs and get out wherever you want to. the chinese restaurant was pretty exclusive for a reasonable price. 2 minutes to 7 we realised that there was happy hour till 7 so we all ordered cocktails in the last second. surprisingly, in chinese, daiquiry seems to be the same as a whole cocktail glass full of plain tequila. a fast change of dresses and we were ready to head out to Fredd´s after-opera-party (first come, last go:)). Fredd is the opera singer who had the baritone solo. The party was in his apt.´s building - beautifully situated just on the Hudson River with a view of the Empire and the city from the rooftop, swimming pool, in-door basketball field, fitness center, and restaurant and convenience store downstairs. nice people, free drinks, sushi and snacks - it got quite late... so we stayed in queens (another get out of the subway to a different world thing), accompanied by christmas carols singing strange/rs in the sub, and slept in.

Sunday:
another day in New York, New York. can´t get enough! a fast cheesecake and croissant breakfast for lunch and the first glance at NYC at Christmas time... from down and above! to be more precise: from the top of the rock. we could have stayed there forever!! at least we did a part of forever, over 2 hours, almost until sunset. 52648759 pictures, 4 times of circle walking, going up and down, and just sitting there and enjoying the view - time stood still. psst! the first glance at the rockefeller christmas tree (still wrapped) , central station, the luxurious Walldorf hotel, Macy´s in its christmas dress and within one tick the weekend is over...

next Tuesday:
found a very good wine store selling excellent pfälzer wine! rene and me watched a very freaky movie, it´s life as a schizophrenic person experiences it. 2,5 hours!!! krasse sache. packing my bag for texas, happy Thanksgiving!!

Monday, November 14, 2005

weekend review

die Küste erkunden war angesagt gestern. also früh aufstehen und los gehts!strahlender sonnenschein, gefühlte 17C und ab ins wasser! aber nur bis zu den knien - so war es angedacht, aber die wellen waren stärker... macht nichts, schließlich sind wir keine memmen! sind wir?? das wir nehme ich zurück! denn die jungs haben in winterjacken beim planschen nur zugeschaut. memmen!!:) gefahren sind wir den garden state parkway runter und über point pleasant auf die halbinsel. dort ist der lieblingssport der amis angeln am strand... mit frau und kind und picknickkorb. und damit man nicht so weit laufen muss, auch gleich mit auto. das wollen wir uns natürlich auch nicht nehmen! nur das angeln ist uns doch zu langweilig. dann schon lieber die vögel im spizzle creek vogelschutzpark bespitzeln. nur zu blöd, dass es da keine vögel gibt... nur kakteen, die können nicht wegfliegen. nächstes ziel ist long island beach und barnegat light. das ist die insel der klinisch toten autofahrer, was die hohe rate der pharamcies pro kopf erklärt. aber ansonsten sehr nett! ganz oben an der spitze gibt es ein lighthouse. treppensteigen als samstägliche sportliche betätigung. gewonnen habe ich nicht, aber letzte bin ich auch nicht geworden :) je weiter man sich von new york entfernt und gen süden fährt, desto amerikanischer wird die gegend. kugelwasserbehälter als ortsschilder, schnurgerade strassen, amiholzhäuser, stromleitungen wohin das auge reicht. und natürlich dicke hummerautos mit box vornedran zum angeln reinstellen, beach und yachten.

Oliver and me posing to show my wet trousers

im lichthaus

kabelsalat

abends dann der krasse gegensatz. eine künstlerfreundin von jackie hat geburtstag und das wird mit einem festessen gefeiert! mit von der partie ist noch eine journalisten(und-alles-was-zu-einem-sophisticated-lifestyle-dazugehört)freundin. ich liebe diese weltgewandten gespräche! kerzenschein, guter wein und geschäftiges treiben, damit das dreigängemenü beim geburtstagskuchen und -lied ankommt, bevor das theater anfängt. bill und ich watchen stattdessen ein movie. und um 11.15 kommt meine zweite sportliche betätigung in form von joggen. (that is dedication!)

heute dann endlich ausschlafen! gemütliches frühstück, ein kleiner ausflug zum airport (doch nicht zu rob dem flieger:)) und mit jackie shoppen zum einkäufe erledigen, sachen zeigen und schuhe kaufen. ich habe tatsächlich innerhalb eines halben tages schuhe gefunden!! zudem habe ich die schönsten und elegantesten schuhe gefunden, die ich jemals gesehen habe. und jackie hat mir nicht geglaubt, dass es zu hause keine gelegenheit gibt sie zu tragen ohne vollkommen overdressed zu sein. vielleicht sollte ich doch hier bleiben?! ;) vorhin der anfang des reste-essen-marathons und leckeres chinesisches essen aus dem riesen chinese grocery store (mit lebenden fischen im aquarium unter der fischtheke und durians im kühlfach) mit anschließender diskussion über epidemienhysterie und pharmazieindustrie, amerikanische truppen, ölreserven und afrika.

ich wünsche eine gute nacht!

everyday life images

our nice Colonial style house

half of my room (on the left hand side there is the bathroom and on the right hand side it continues)

it´s always good to know at what time you can speed up!

how it looked like one week ago

madness is the right word...

und eins für Barbara (taken in a pub in Boston)

Saturday, November 12, 2005

alltagsleben

früh aufstehen, arbeiten, den abend verbingen, spät ins bett, wenig schlafen, früh aufstehen,....,wochenende verplanen, wochenende schon wieder rum, früh aufstehen, viel kaffee trinken, tot(müde), STOP! :) wenn das praktikum zu ende ist, werde ich den schlaf von drei monaten nachholen müssen. ist ne ganz schöne menge! aber am sonntag kann ich ausschlafen! die dritte nacht mit ausreichend schlaf seit ich hier bin... aber was solls! man lebt nur einmal :)
und das leben hier ist wunderbar! letzte woche standen die bäume in flammen - wunderschön! jetzt sind sie fast kahl, aber auch das hat was. ich liebe die kleinen städtchen hier! kleine dörfchen in der riesigen metropolitan großstadt new jersey wie es mein mitbewohner ausdrückt. es gibt nichts, was es nicht gibt. intellektuell gesehen. kultur en masse. selbst radiosender gibt es 1000nde.
gestern wurde der new yorker weihnachtsbaum aufgestellt, 9 tonnen schwer und 42 feet branchspan. vielleicht bekomme ich ihn am wochenende zu gesicht. wenn nicht, dann spätestens am mittwoch, da gehts in die oper - premiere. ein kollege von den new yorker siemens interns singt nämlich den hauptpart in der carnegie hall. (excuse me, sir, how do I get to carnegie hall? - practice, practice, practice!) am samstag gibt es dann die private party in seinem penthouse apt.. sophisticated life goes on! :) davor gehen wir aber auf ein football game. endlich!
am mittwoch waren wahlen in nyc. michael bloomberg hat seine zweite legislaturperiode angetreten.
am dienstag war ich mit Jens und Hans in einem Off-Broadway Theater. It Takes Three heißt das Stück und es geht um eine "Band", die nach California fährt, um als Boyband aufzutreten,weil sie das Geld brauchen. der plot hört sich nicht so spannend an, aber das stück war superlustig!! die bezeichnung off-broadway gibt es tatsächlich, genauso wie off-off-broadway und off-off-off-broadway. das wird das nächste theaterprojekt nach der oper :)
gestern ist mir die arbeit ausgegangen... eigentlich war ein projekt für die gesamte zeit vorgesehen, nun habe ich auch das zweite fertig. Die Projekte an sich sind nicht komplett fertig, aber mein Teil ist eigetnlich getan. das dritte ist im angriff... am montag war die andere Praktikantin aus meinem Bereich aus der Naehe von Chicago hier. Wir waren schick Sushi essen und danach habe ich mein Projekt und die Produktion vorgeführt. Sie sah ziemlich beeindruckt aus ;) Es ist ja nicht so, dass ich den ganzen tag nur party mache und die gegend erkunde, auch wenn sich das hier so anhört :) und abends war ich joggen! jaha, richtig gelesen! :-)
sushi essen war ich auch gestern abend. Bill hat naemlich noch nie Sushi gegessen und wollte es unbedingt probieren. also ab nach Maplewood! stellt euch eine typisch amerikanische kolonialstadt vor, in die ein hauch moderne geweht ist. dessert war lime mousse pie in einem kleinen schnuckeligen coffee shop.
Außerdem hat er meine Erkältung eingefangen. zumindest behauptet er, dass sie von mir kommt; ich bin da nicht so überzeugt von!
also gut, morgen gehts die küste runter mit Oliver und René und da will ich mir doch wenigstens noch schnell im tour guide durchlesen, was wir unbedingt sehen müssen. schließlich darf ich morgen bestimmen, wo´s langgeht! juhu!;)
have a good night!

ohooooh, hab ich ganz vergessen zu berichten!! vorhin war ich bei den american flyers und habe meine flugstunden angeleiert!!! aber erst muss ich meine fingerabdrücke abgeben und so ein blödes formular im internet ausfüllen, weil ich ja bestimmt ein terrorist bin und mich ins empire state building stürzen will... das habe ich vorhin versucht zu machen (also das formular ausfüllen, nicht das empire abfeuern *g*), nur um dann nach 3 telefonaten und einer stunde dokumenten-recherche festzustellen, dass ich als allerletzten schritt meine passkopie faxen muss, was ich hier nicht machen kann. naja, am sonntag werde ich rob, den flieger, nochmal besuchen gehen :)

Friday, November 11, 2005

Preisrätsel

who is that fast guy? wer als erster rausfindet, wer das auf dem bild ist, bekommt eine karte aus new york!

weekend no. ...?? I´m getting confused...

time passes DEFINITELY too fast!! i feel like rushing from event to event, enjoying every single second I spend in this country! except the fact that my time feeling is completely lost... my watch tells me that another hour just passed when it seems to me it was a minute. or even less. I just cannot believe it´s only four more weeks to work. And in fact, I do not want to believe it.
but before I´m gonna tell you about those things, here is my "short summary" of the weekend - movie time:

Friday night was burger night... Bill and me made burgers for dinner (he made them and i ate them ;)) and later on, Bryan came over to watch a movie with us: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. it takes place in New Jersey. So after that we went to White Castle to get some burgers for Bryan and sweet (sweeeet???) hot chocolate for me because i felt a bit sick.that was fun! :) zur erklärung: white castle ist eine der 62459104756 fast food ketten. da gibt es burger für 50c, die in vierecke zurechtgeschnitten und wirklich minifunzlig sind. aber angeblich die besten... naja, ich schätze, das film wurde kräftig gesponsort :) later we saw another movie called Eurotrip. It´s about some highschool kids that travel around europe because one of them fell in love with a german girl he met on the internet with the typical german name "Mika"... Bryan got mad at me because i spoilt the whole movie by saying Mika is not a german girls´name. Eurotrip is full of wrong prejudices but it´s sooooo much fun!! being home :) i still don´t think it´ll ever be released in european theatres...

on saturday, we finally made it to Woodbury, the outlet center in new york (state). it´s huge but to be honest I wasn´t impressed very much. maybe because I´ve seen other malls like this before. actually, it´s kind of a village - they even have a faked church with a bell tower. (god bless America:)) I got two new trousers and two jumpers which I really needed. But most of the shops were quite exquisite. it doesn´t bother me if a jumper costs 400$ or ONLY 350$...
the drive through new jersey and new york was beautiful!! I love the fall colors!! and believe it or not we had around 20C - not bad for November! (well, of course not comparable to south carolina) That night I went with Bill and three more grad students (Andrea from Rumenia, Brenna and Mario from Germany) to watch a movie at Milburn. I rushed there to be on time because at the mall we had to wait quite a bit. well, i didn´t really go fast but too fast for american highways. i´m getting the feeling why everybody keeps asking me about the german autobahns... anyway. i made it on time but the movie was already sold out. so we went to montclair to watch it there. but the 9.10pm show was also sold out... so we went to the soda pop shop (remember that?!) and had some ice cream before going to the 10pm show. by that time i was so tired i could hardly get over the first 15 minutes of the movie. I made it to the 25 minutes - mark, but then I fell asleep... and woke up just before the end :D so I missed the whole plot but I got the message though. It was about the responsibility of television and the media using the story of McCarthy and the history of CBS (don´t ask me about the story, I dreamt of something else! ;)) Good night, and good luck!

On Sunday, i volunteered at the New York City Marathon. Ask me what I did on November 6th! - handing out water to runners and screaming for my life. i saw so much pain on people´s faces, i don´t think i will ever run a marathon... but it was a great experience to see people smile having encouraged them to go on. so maybe i´ll run one... probably not :)
we got an original new york city marathon t-shirt, an deep orange raincap and an official staff card. and free water:) you don´t believe how huge this event is! very special!

morning fog

Kathleen, Shivani, Thorsten and Katharina mit kaltem, klarem wasser... (poland spring rocks!)

the week after halloween

auch dieser post befindet sich im entstehen. die zeit vergeht so schnell, ich komme nicht nach mit berichten!
nur so viel so far: dienstag gabs ice cream in einem kultigen fancy 50er-jahre-style american ice cream shop und der american pie becher hat mein bauch mit caramel vollgestopft, das bestimmt eine gute isolierung gegen feindliche äußere angriffe von spring water gebildet hat! und der name des ladens? the soda pop shop (so sah´s da auch aus ;-))

Monday, November 07, 2005

halloween

on 10/31 there was the big halloween parade in nyc. and of course, we went there! of course, we dressed up and of course, most of the others that came with us, didn´t :) the parade went along 6th ave. crazy atmosphere! it´s nothing comparable to fasching at home. people dress up in a very fashionable and perfectionist way. although, i´ve never seen so many almost naked police bunnies... the parade itself is only by parts professional. everybody in a nice costume can join. that makes it really interesting. halloween is a cult over here!
after the parade we wanted to go to a nice bar and somehow we managed to get into a party of a french place. there was a little garden, some tables, a bar and a small dancefloor - really nice! later on we realised it was private. but rene and me were starving so we went out to get some food. it was a very special night life atmosphere in the streets with all those dressed people which i enjoyed a lot. but when we came back we were told that there was a free buffet with french cuisine par excellence we had just missed.... damn it! (considering the fact that we wanted to go to another place but decided very fast not to go when we saw the prices for one bottle of an alcoholic drink for the halloween night: 200$ and up!)

Krisztina and me

the Mardis Gras people from New Orleans

the Indian devil Shivani, cowboy-Hans from Holland, me and Krisztina

Boston

last weekend we took all our free time we could find, threw it into a big box, stirred it and went to Boston. WE are nine Siemens interns - 8 germans and one hungarian girl who´s married to a german. nine makes 2 cars and 2 hotel rooms. five had to go through the backdoor and one guy had to sleep on that thing that is underneath the matress of an American double bed. where all the springs come out :) (we thought, there was a couch in the rooms...) on Friday night we all left office early and off we were. (which doesn´t mean i did not have to wait for hours ;)) it´s a 4-5 hours drive plus breaks for diner and little boys.
Boston is a very nice city and if you are just coming from new york city it´s very small, neat and cozy. there is a lot of space for pedestrians, the houses are quite small - around 10 to 15 floors - , everything goes slowly. that was the point i realised it will take me a while to get used to a city like karlsruhe again... nice, small, some cultural events, but one at a time. nevertheless, i like nyc better than boston. it´s just a different feeling.
the most remarkable thing was the weather... on saturday we walked along the freedom trail which connects all big monuments and took us through central town. it was freezing (around 2C) and after a while it started snowing. the official first day of christmas season :) it was so much snow we went to a big mall just to be inside. there i got a pretty shirt i will wear at the opera next week (i´ll tell you later). on sunday, we had perfect weather! just about 18C, clear and sunshine!!! I´ve never experienced a difference of over 15C within one day!!! so cambridge and harvard glanced in all its glory of old centuries...
one thing about massachusets is that the state law is very strict... our planned saturday night bar trip with live music ended very fast when we realised we as foreigners need our actual passport to drink something. no other ID is enough. and of course most of our passports were in New Jersey (where you by the way don´t need them to get into a bar). but the fines are very high (100000$). so we had a little party in the guys´ hotel room.
we also found out that traffic penalties are not that cheap... we turned left on a street where we were not supposed to do so (there was a special u-turn area we didn´t see). bad luck a police officer saw us... of course we had to stop just in front of the others that had left some time before us... so somewhere there is also a picture existing. the fine was 200$ (!!!!) but lucky us we somehow made it not to be forced to pay.