Testing

I'm testing the flickr upload page

If you want a larger picture, just click on the small one above. This will take you to the flickr page for the picture and you can view it in different sizes.

I'm not sure I like the way this works. I'll need to look at a couple of websites to see how I can change and adapt it

Problems with Photos?

If you are having problems viewing any of the photos from this site, please check out my Flickr page for all the photos from this site and more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okrahaven/

I'll try to get everything squared away with these pages when I figure out what the hell I am doing.

European?

So I went out to explore this afternoon. As soon as I got to the main road the rain starts again. Of course it’s about 0.25 miles from the hotel, so I decide to cross the road and wait it out. I cross and get another couple dozen meters (see that? I’m almost European already) up the road and the rain starts to come down for real. I duck under an awning, the rain lightens up. I walk away, the rain starts coming down heavy. So I duck under another awning, and it comes to an almost complete stop. I knew that it was just playing with me, but I also knew I had the power to stop it…

So I ducked into a small store and bought an umbrella. This small sacrifice apparently pleased the rain gods, because they let up for the rest of the afternoon. I was even able to pull my camera from under my raincoat without suffering any reprisals.

The streets were pretty crowded in spite of the rain. I walked around quite a bit, taking a photo or two when the light was agreeable. I took pictures of a couple of churches, and another couple of buildings.

This is a huge and very ornate cathedral in town. It has a large area in front of it that is used for the Wiesbaden farmers market on Saturdays and Wednesdays. I think this is the place, but could not verify as everything was already closed up when I got there. I don't know the names of any of these churches or buildings, but this one is completely made of regular small bricks, most are made of larger blocks.

This building is just to the left of the church, as viewed from the same spot.

I believe this is a private apartment building. I didn't see any signs on or around it to lead me to think otherwise. I really liked the colors and the sun seemed to be hitting it well. It's a beautiful building.

These buildings are in a row that faces a park area that leads to another church. The pictures of that church didn't turn out well at all. Perhaps the rain gods were upset that I was using there leniency to take pictures of buildings that were put up in reverence to another god. Something about having strange gods before them... In the lower left you can see a statue of a horse. My German is a little shaky, but I think it's Mr. Ed. He is up on his hind legs getting ready to kick Wilbur's ass! I don't think this episode ever made it to the airwaves.

As I was exploring and taking these pictures for you, I also noticed a couple of the stores were closing up. I sort of remembered that someone had mentioned that practically everything is closed on Sunday. So I started hunting down some food stuffs for tomorrow. A couple of rolls and some cheese were purchased at a food market. The plan was to obtain some type of cured meat product at another store that had been scoped out earlier; however, the store was closed when I arrived. It must have closed at 5:00 PM, on Saturday. This place is going to take some getting used to!
So with cheese sandwiches on the menu for tomorrow, the mission changed to obtaining suitable fare before retiring to the hotel. And suitable fare was found! Dinner was Veal Schnitzel with boiled potatoes, a small salad, and a side order of kraut. It had occurred to me that I had been in Germany for almost a week already, and had not eaten any kraut yet. The salad, which was mostly shredded cabbage and shredded carrots on top of a little lettuce and a few other vegetables, was excellent. The dressing seemed like a lighter version of a ranch, but without the cloying sweetness. The main plate arrived with two beautiful pieces of veal that were pounded thin, breaded, and pan fried to a near perfect golden brown. This was accompanied by boiled potato chunks which were sufficiently tender but not all mushy. Perfect. The schnitzel came with butter on top, and this was later sopped up with the potatoes. The kraut was also excellent. There was no hint of sulfur or any vinegary flavor. If I would have grown up around kraut like this, I may have taken a liking to it before I entered my forties.

Of course maybe the kraut wasn’t as good as I’m thinking it was. Perhaps it was only a serviceable example of true German kraut. Maybe it was the surroundings that made it seem so good. Perhaps it was the schnitzel (which was excellent, I’m not backing down from that judgement) and potatoes that just made it seem right. Possibly it was the kind older woman who kept bringing me glasses of hefeweizen. It is conceivable that the kraut tasted better because today, for the first time I've been here, I was asked if I was European…

Between the market and the restaurant a passing car had splashed some water on me. The entire front of my pants was wet when I walked into the restaurant. I took off my jacket and the old man at the door said, “European?”

I replied, “No, a car just splashed water on me”

Ofenfrische Grillhaxe auf Dunkelbiersauce

It is a dreary Saturday afternoon here in Wiesbaden. I wanted to go to the open-air farmer’s market in town today, but I woke up to rain. It’s been raining pretty steady, though not heavy, all morning. I went to the continental breakfast at the hotel. This should really just be called breakfast, because we are on “The Continent” that is referred to in the title. Similar to the reason there is no Chinese food in China; there it’s just called food.

Poor jokes aside, my plans to do some exploring and take some pictures have pretty much been put on hold. So I’m doing my laundry, and I’m not going to take pictures of that. Unless anyone would like to make a special request (send all requests by email, and be sure to specify what articles of clothing you would like pictures of, and please be sure to include your cell number.). With any luck, the weather will clear up, and I’ll be able to go exploring later this afternoon. The weather here has been pretty mild so far, and just like at home it only rains on your days off.

Last night I had a dinner of “Ofenfrische Grillhaxe auf Dunkelbiersauce”, which was billed as “Fried Pig Knuckle in Dark Ale Sauce”. I was going to order the cheese spaetzle with grilled onions, but I was feeling carnivorous and wanted a piece of sausage with it. I was having trouble explaining this to the waiter. He thought I was asking for two dishes. I guess in reality I was asking for two dishes, since no sausage comes with the spaetzle, but I didn’t want to pay for two. To make things easier I just ordered the grillhaxe. The Knuckle was good, but a little bland for my taste. It was nicely cooked, and the skin was pleasantly crunchy. The sauce; however, was pretty tasteless and ordinary. I felt that the whole dish could’ve been improved with the addition of a slightly spicy and/or acidic sauce (eg. a red wine sauce). A sauce with a little bit of tartness would have better offset the fattiness of the knuckle, and offered a better flavor contrast. The bread was also a little disappointing, being two pieces of pre-sliced commercial bread. At least it wasn’t Wonderbread, and it did have some tooth to it. All of these are minor points, and the meal was inexpensive. The restaurant is very close to the hotel so I’m sure that I’ll be back for the spaetzle.

The rain has been stopped for a while and it looks like the sun is making admirable attempt to come out. My clothes are clean and dried and folded and put away. So I think I’ll cut this off for now and see if I can’t get myself into some sort of trouble…

Swine Kopf

I’ve been in-processing the last couple of days. This includes things like getting a new ID card, a driver’s license, checking in at the mailroom, and meeting with various people I won’t see for another 3-5 years. It has been interesting though. I got to ride around with a guy who is from here and he pointed out some interesting things. He took me to the train station (where I got my bus ticket, …go figure…). He also showed me the buses to take to get me to and from work. A seemingly simple task, until you throw in the language barrier thing, and the seemingly odd (but in reality, sensible) way of naming the bus stops. I actually made my way to work and home today on my own. Not bad for a 44 year old guy (you can applaud anytime you feel like it)!

I went out for Italian food tonight. That’s correct; I’m in Germany, eating at an Italian restaurant, and being served by a Russian waitress. I had lamb chops on the bone, pasta, and a very nice glass of red wine. Everything was very good. The lamb was cooked to a medium doneness and had a peppery coating that was a little spicy. The spaghetti had a simple sauce of olive oil and garlic. I should have told the waitress that I wanted the meat medium-rare, but that's my fault. I won’t tell you what I paid for it, but I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Lauri, because she and my Uncle Sam paid for it.

While I’m on the topic of food (and really, when do I ever get off the topic?), I went into a small shopping center a couple of days ago. It was actually an indoor mall without any walls dividing most of the stores. It was like an indoor sidewalk sale, only everything was new, and the stinky woman in the wool coat wasn’t there. Oh come on, every time you go to a sidewalk sale or a yard sale there is some old woman with a long odd smelling woolen coat there. Isn’t there? She hasn’t been just following me… has she? Anyway, she wasn’t there, at least not at this time.

Within this twisted little menagerie of shops there is a food court of sorts. But unlike the food court at your local mall, most things looked good here. Most of the shops had beer too (always a plus). I had a decent sandwich and a beer at a place (when in Rome…), and when I was leaving I spotted a little deli stand. This was about the third or fourth place like this I have seen here. This one specialized in Italian meats, and I was drawn to one called Soppresatta de tete (or something like that, I didn’t write it down). It was a thing of beauty, all different hues of reds, browns, brownish reds, and reddish browns. You know, meat colors. It was wrapped in burlap, and was about the size of a county ham. I asked the guy what it was. He didn’t speak English very well, but explained that is was “Swine Kopf” and cupped his hands around his cheeks. I knew then what it was, and I considered just running away. However, I thought better of it and I told him, “In America we call that Head Cheese”. He sliced off a piece and insisted that I try some. I really didn't want to, but with a slight trepidation I reached out my sweating and shaky hand for it. I lifted it to my mouth, placed it on my tongue, and winced a little as I bit down. Surprisingly, it was very good (he likes it, hey Mikey!). It was sliced very thin, so I didn’t get the full texture of the bits of tongue, cheek meat and god knows what else that was in it. Nevertheless, it was very good. After he let me taste a few other things, I ended up buying some Culatello (sp?) and a little bit of Lardo (cured fatback) from him. I ate them with a couple of Doritos back at the hotel. Oh and I had another beer too. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the beer here is wonderful, but that’s another story for another day.

This weekend I’ll try to take and post some pictures of the area.

It’s great to see that Coach Pitino finally has the Cards playing like a team!

International Flights

Did you know that drinks were free on international flights?

Apparently only the first six are free, after that only the scowls and dirty looks are.

G-Day!!

After a long and rather uneventful plane flight from Newark, NJ, I landed in Frankfurt, Germany early this morning. My mother told me that she would be praying for the pilot, but I did her one better. I was sitting next to a Baptist preacher. He speaks maybe 6 languages fluently, and did some translating for Billy Graham. So I knew that I was safe on this flight. He was a very nice guy and we spoke on and off throughout the flight. It almost made me wish I hadn’t eaten that seventh deviled egg the night before…

I was not able to sleep much at all on the flight, so right now I am whooped! However, I do not want to go to sleep now since it is only mid-afternoon here. I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to bed.

It’s kind of a dreary day here, and has been drizzling off and on since I got here. I went out exploring anyway, because I was falling asleep in the room. I was wondering around in a slight daze from lack of sleep, and almost got lost several times. I was thinking that this Germany thing not have been such a good idea until I found something. Two separate shops with more pork products than I could ever imagine. Beautiful sausages and ham hanging around and calling out my name. I picked up some smoked blood sausage, cheese, a couple of rolls, and some mustard and headed back. On my way I stopped at a small pavilion and bought two excellent beers.

I came back to my room with the goods and fixed myself a couple of sandwiches. The only knife I have right now is a 1.5” pocket knife that I didn’t even know I had until it fell out of my carry-on baggage at the hotel. It doesn’t say much for homeland security, but it sure does the trick here.

Short post today because I am tiiiiiiiiiired. I am falling asleep here while typing this, and I do not want to get any spit on the keyboard.

Sorry Beth

Today was my last day of work in Virginia for at least 3 years, and I played a practical joke on Beth. Of course she won't realize it until tomorrow morning. At which time, I'll be gone. I hope that if I see her again, the intervening years will have mellowed her anger a bit. I also hope to have evidence of it that I may be able to post at a later time. If I do I will give a more detailed description of the joke. It actually came together very well, I wish I was able to be there when it goes down.

Tomorrow the movers are coming to pack my stuff. After they are finished I will head north into the snow. I hope that yesterday's storm does not delay things too badly, because I need to drop my truck off at the dock in Edison, NJ on Friday. Since I am flying out Sunday evening, the schedule does not allow for significant delays.

The funniest thing that happened today was when Claudette was ready to get onto the elevator. She had given me a big hug earlier in the day, and while at the elevator she mentioned that she had squeezed the pudding out of me. Gary was standing nearby and said, "That wasn't pudding". Claudette blushed so bright red; I think I got sunburn.

It was a good day overall. I bought donuts, because everyone has been so nice to me all week. If I had known that my leaving would cause such an outpouring of goodwill, I would have said I was leaving at least once per month since I've been here. Seriously though, I was a little sad to leave. I’ve only been here for a year and a half, but I’ve made some good friends. But in reality I was too busy to be very sad. I planned on just basically cleaning up my area and checking out, but Kim made me do more work today.

Counting down: G-DAY minus 6

I will hit the shores of Germany in 6 days.

Well, I won’t exactly hit the shores, more like hit the tarmac. Actually it will probably be concrete ... and the plane will be hitting it, not me.

I’ll be hitting the plush carpeting of the terminal in the Frankfort airport. At least I’m hoping that it’s plush.

Not as exciting as hitting the shores but, work with me, it’s all I’ve got.

Work is winding down; or rather, I am beginning to wind down at work. I apologize to anyone at the office who feels that I am leaving them in the lurch by taking this overseas position. That was not my intention and I tried to finish up everything that I could.

I am excited about the opportunity to live and work in another country. I started getting a little restless after spending about 13 years in Kentucky. This was in no small part inspired by Mike Gallagher. They were great years in Kentucky and I would not trade them for anything. Well … I might trade 2 of them, for anything (anything at all, really, what do you have to offer?), but that’s another story … I met a bunch of fantastic people there and made more than a few great friends. Rest assured I will remain a loyal Cardinal fan until the very end.

After 15 years in Kentucky, I moved back to my hometown in Pennsylvania, and I was just not happy there. Maybe it was the job, maybe the living arrangements, or perhaps you can’t go home again. Who knows? I ended up in Virginia for the last year and a half, and I’ve really enjoyed my time here. I’ve met and worked with some great people, and have made some good friends. I seem to meet good people everywhere I go; either the world is full of good people or opposites do attract. Alright, enough of the history lesson; I’m going to Germany fer chrissakes!

Germany, the land of 1250 breweries! Germany, the land of 1500 different sausages! Germany, the land of people who speak … well, uh, German.

i.e. not the language of which I am a native speaker.

should be fun…

p.s. The next two meals of the cassoulet were not as eventful as the first. The day before yesterday I heated some up in a skillet and topped it with two sunny-side-up eggs. Last night I added some grated cheese along with the sunny-side-up eggs. I’m not sure what should be more surprising, that I keep eating this or that it keeps getting better.

The Offending Meal

Oh sure it may look innocent enough...

I can hear you right now, "Don't be such a baby Tony! It's just pork & beans."

But, this demonic dish is more like "pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, venison, pork, baked beans and pork".

(there's not much Spam in that!)

The Countdown Begins

I’ll be leaving for my adventure one week from today. I will be working out of Germany, but plan on spending a lot of time traveling and working around the continent. My plans for this site are for it to be a way to share the sights and adventure with friends and family. Maybe by chronicling the next few years of my life I'll be able to learn something from them (unlike the previous 44).

I still have a few things to finish up at work, and lots of packing and sorting to do. I’m working on cleaning out the fridge, so yesterday I made a ludicrously-rich bastardized cassoulet. Of course I ate too much of it. This caused me not to sleep very well, and I woke up to the squirts. Good thing I was somehow able to "double-clutch" in my sleep and avoid any unwanted emissions.

I’ll probably have some more of it tonight. I hope you understand that I am doing this purely for the sake of science, not gluttony.

I’m just getting into this blogging business so bear with me, future posts may be better… however, I’m not making any guarantees. I'm sure this blog will be in a state of constant flux, so stop by on occasion and we'll see where this thing ends up.