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2004-05-10
'twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe

08:43

Friday morning, the city was enveloped in a blanket of fog and there was a slight drizzle of rain. I like it when it�s foggy as it makes everything seem mysterious, giving a new, somewhat eerie perspective to familiar sights. Going over bridges are especially ethereal, as if travelling on a road suspended in midair. It is very mysterioso (that is for Kelly).

Peter mentioned that the smoking is even worse in the Netherlands than here. That is very hard to imagine. My building smells worse inside than outside, instead of the other way around. It is even more noticeable on days like Friday, where the air has that fresh, rain-washed feeling. He also tried to get me to pronounce the name of the city K�ln (English speakers might recognize it as �Cologne�) correctly, which I seem to be unable to do. Hmph. I think that the world should be tailored for English speakers. Oh wait, it pretty much is�

It stays light so late, past 10 p.m., and starts to get light 5ish � especially annoying when one does not have curtains. But, that is because we are at 53� latitude, higher even than the inclination of the ISS (51.6�)! This is the highest I have ever lived. (For reference, Houston is at 29.5�, Sacramento is 38.3�, and Vancouver, BC is 49�.) Even Strasbourg isn�t this high � it is the same as Vancouver.

I had a fun weekend. Beth, Dinesh, and I went downtown on Saturday. Bremen was playing Munich in a football match; if Bremen won, then they would be #1 in their league in Europe. It was crazy! Thousands of people dressed (and sometimes painted) in green and white, waving flags, drinking profusely, aided by the numerous beer gardens that had sprung up. There were no trams running through the middle of downtown because of the crowds. We tried to see the TV that had been set up, but to no avail. We wandered around for a bit and then stopped at a nice Thai restaurant. Bremen ended up winning (we assumed, anyway, by the reaction of the fans) and cars were honking continuously in celebration. They were honking at 6 when we went into the restaurant, and at 9 when we left. According to some of my colleagues who arrived on Saturday, they were still honking early Sunday morning!

Beth and I went to the Science Center on Sunday to check it out. 6� to get in, and we spent about 5 hours there. It was broken up into three sections - Expedition Mankind, Cosmos, and Earth. It was pretty cool, especially since a lot of the signs were also in English, making things a lot easier! Our favorite was a heat camera which projected an image onto the wall. We spent about 15 minutes there, just messing around. Beth's hands were a warm yellow and green, but mine showed up as a freezing blue and purple (not surprising). I had these funny yellow patches on my red face which made me look like an actor from Planet of the Apes. Only difference, I didn't need any make-up.

Today a bunch of people from JSC are here. I thought that I would know only one person coming, but turns out I know three - Rob Banfield (I knew he was coming), Chuck Moede, and Bob Curbeam! I was very excited to see them. I ran into them at the train station and we rode the tram over to EADS together. They are here as part of a week-long series of meetings that we're going to have. It's nice to see such familiar faces. I feel as if I have visitors. =)

Well, I have to run off to that meeting! Tsch�ss.

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