September 30, 2005
day two: sparkling water, or funkelndes Wasser
9:31pm, thursday night
oh my, so tired.
really. truly.
today was good. we followed sandra to kempen, to the company headquarters. it was raining, we took the back roads, through a very narrow farm road past windmills, sheep, and two boys in a yellow lean-to in the rain. they looked as if they were gathering research. what kind of research at 8:30am in the pouring rain, i don't know. the offices here are so much larger than nyc. they just have so many more people than we do. christina tells me that the construction next door started last year and the company there had been dumping dead animal skins there. so it stunk for months. ew.
everyone is extraordinarily nice and friendly. most speak english fairly fluently. everyone is there to help and lining up to take us out for a night. i am downstairs in the studio with the other graphic designers. i sit with 6 german men. no kidding. there are two girls, but they sit within an office with a closed door behind me. but it is fine. it turned sunny and there were men working on the trees outside the windows. it was almost like NYC with them sawing away.
i struggled with jet lag. i thought someone smoked in the office, but really they were in the hallway talking and blowing it out the window. i am very sensitive to that and i sort of freaked out at the thought that they may smoke in my work environment. my computer set up was a breeze aside from the fact that i can't get skype (a phone over ip system - skype.com) to work. i did some troubleshooting and realized it's because of a firewall. they are supposed to look at it tomorrow morning. i am not worried. i think my project is going to go well. i think i will be able to work well in my space. christina is upstairs with most of the ladies in editorial. it's just like old times, designing with the guys.
there is a soda machine that they call the automatt that has glass bottles of coke and fanta and lift, a fantastic sparkling apple juice. to get to it, you have to walk through a factory that i didn't realize was there. i guess it holds all the company products. i didn't realize that was part of this building strangely enough. there is a woman that comes around with a breakfast basket with cups of yogurt and bread, etc. i had already had granola (a huge box, only 1,75euro at the supermarket!) so i passed, but it's good to know it's there.
we were waiting on a package all day, so i didn't do much actual work. it was more of a settling in type day.
afterwork christina and i went to downtown kempen. which is surrounded by fortress walls from the middle ages. it is very cute, and extremely german. lots of little statues, a big clock tower, cute tiny streets. i have some pictures - just touristy snaps, but they show you what it looks like. the weather kept going from rain to sun. it's worse than new england here!
anyway we ended up getting me a pay as you go cell phone, so now i have a german cell phone. if you call me, it's free. but you probably only want to do that if your in germany, right? :) after we hit the big grocery store and i bought fresh tortellini to make for dinner with pesto sauce (it was delicious). also gouda and cream cheese and that heavy german dark bread for snacks tomorrow. the cheese here is fabulous and cheap. i must watch out! seriously a huge pie of brie was .99 euro. oh, and i drink sparkling water now. it's just everywhere and more common than regular... it's kind of refreshing but i find myself drinking less than usual.
wow, how boring. but it was really quite fun for me to experiment in the german supermarkets. i don't eat meat, just fish so i find ways to be creative. the last few hours were spent cooking and packing for berlin. also watching CNN international, which is the only english channel i get. it's so nice to have some time alone to basically do nothing. in ny i'm always running somewhere, doing something. and i am here too but i think i will also get an equal amount of downtime which i am looking forward to. i don't have internet at home either. so i am going to read and write and cook. now i do wish i had brought my knitting. i sound downright domestic.
i'm going to sleep. sweet dreams. tomorrow, work, then BERLIN! i am so excited. i do hope for good weather.... but i won't keep my hopes up. in any case it will be fun. i have no doubts. david is meeting me right outside of the Meringdam (?) subway (i just take it from the airport apparently) and issac says he is throwing a big party on sat. night. so the plans are in motion! i don't have any MUST do's while there. i think i am going to be chill and see what happens. berlin is gigantic. i can't possibly try and take it all in. i will experience a little pocket and take that.