Sledding into the New Year

After our awesome trip to Budapest we settled back in Munich for act III of our family adventure.

As we were down to the last 2 days of the year (and the last 2 days of our family visiting), we wanted to make sure we got to spend some time with Aunt Ellen and Uncle Rüdiger.  With 2 cars, we easily fit crammed all 9 of us in for a drive down to Garmisch again.  However this time, our destination was different – we wanted to see Partnachklamm again, but this time we were hoping to see it partially frozen.  After hitting a rather large Stau (traffic jam), we finally made it down to Garmisch. 

Seth and Rüdiger hanging out in the traffic

As we walked up to the Olympic Ski Jump – the start of the hike to the gorge – we sadly learned that Partnachklamm was closed due to the melting ice.  Apparently there was danger of icicles breaking off and potentially killing everyone in sight.  And the worst part is there is a website that tells you if it is ‘geoffnet’ or ‘geschlossen’, but it had been down for a few days.  This must be how Chevy Chase felt when he finally made it to WallyWorld and it was closed.

Thankfully we had Ellen and Rüdiger with us as they came up with a wonderful backup plan for the day.  Right at the same ski jump stadium is the lift to the top of Eckbauerbahn!  After Rüdiger finagled us the group discount (technically we were 1 shy of the 10 needed), we hopped in line for the gondolas.  But before we handed our ticket over in exchange for a ride up the mountain, Sandy announced she really wanted to try sledding (a true sign she was born and raised in Texas).  Noah and Seth had her back and quickly ran back down to the store to rent 3 sleds for the group.  Finally we (and our sleds) were on our way up the mountain in the gondolas. 

We were really excited

Once we reached the top, we immediately headed to the sledding hill.  Marty, Margie, and myself all hung back at the bottom to photograph my mother’s first sled experience ever (and capture the others too).  Ellen and Rüdiger went to the top of the hill to cheer the sledders on. 

First up – Seth. 

Next – my mother’s inaugural sled ride.  With the ‘breaks’ on the majority of the time, she ended up with pretty good snow spray. 

Then it was Noah’s turn. 

Then the self-proclaimed expert, my father.  Though based on the photo you can see he didn’t really have the best form.  (He blames the sled…. sure Gary) 

After a few more runs in for all, including a brother run, and a run where Seth flew all the way to the restaurant, we had all built up our appetite and were ready for some food.  This was when I took my turn on the sled – to slowly make my way down the path to the restaurant.  What can I say – I know the dangers uncomfortable-ness of snow spray first hand. 

After our fill of food and beer (and a few more runs on the sled), we were ready to call it a day and head back down the mountain. 

Before heading back to Munich, we decided to walk around the town of Oberammergau first. We asked a random man on the street to take a group picture of us in front of the famous painted houses, but sadly the bill of his hat pushed the flash down, resulting in a dark and grainy picture. 

When we returned to Munich we said farewell to Ellen and Rüdiger and took off to downtown for a delicious meat-filled dinner at Der Pschorr.  Even Margie’s vegetarian baked cheese dish was amazing.  

It's hard to see, but the name of the restaurant behind us is 'Weisses'

New Year’s Eve found us all rather spent from the past 2 weeks activities.  The day was spent playing Settler’s of Catan between packing (as everyone flew out the next day).  Before dinner though, we partook in the German tradition of Bleigießen.  This is where you melt a small lead figure and dump the liquid in water.  Then you have to determine what your newly created shape looks like.  The shape is interpreted (via online blogs for us) to predict how the upcoming year will be.  For instance, my lead came out looking like a swan.  Based on the list, a bird means I have good luck coming in 2014!  Unfortunately ‘penis’ wasn’t on the list for Noah’s shape, so we had to go with a different opinion on what his object looked like. 

After our fortunes were foretold, we went out for a wonderful Indian dinner.  And since this is all about ‘firsts’ this trip for the parents (Margie’s first time in a gondola, Sandy’s first time sledding), it was now Gary’s turn.  This was his first time eating Indian food!  We went with some safe choices for him of butter chicken and tikka masala, and I was happy to say he didn’t go hungry that night.

It was finally time to grab our blankets, champagne, and fireworks and head to Hirschgarten.  Last year Noah and I marveled a the way German’s do fireworks on New Year’s, so we thought the park near us would be a good place to 1) set off our own fireworks and 2) have a nice view of others as well.  Noah and I were also looking forward to showing our guests how over the top it gets here.  To quote Adam Fletcher’s ‘How to be German in 50 easy steps': “New Year’s Eve in Germany is the evening in which all the nice, normal, practical, risk-averse people are replaced by gun-powder-touting, death wish-seeking pyromaniacs. Running around lighting fireworks with reckless abandon. Sections of the country become much like Baghdad on market day. In Germany, leaving the house on New Year’s Eve is like stepping into a giant, 80 million person multiplayer game of Bomberman.”.  

We get started around 11:30 lighting our bottle rockets and our 3-foot long sparklers.  With all that time waiting for the sparkler to burn out, I had my go at sparkler-writing. 

At this point we were really the only ones around, and Noah and I were a bit nervous that maybe we misremembered last year and exaggerated the experience to our family.  But once the clock hit midnight, the warzone broke out.  We did have a few more groups show up to the park, but the main event was over at the Hirschgarten restaurant.  They had their own professional show going, and we had great viewing spots away from the massive crowd we could see in the distance.  Between their show, and all the fireworks that began to explode all around us, we could see the awe in our family’s faces.  It was a great way to ring in the New Year. 

The next same morning we bid ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to our loved ones and spent the rest of the day recovering from both the late night and the 2 weeks of hosting.  Plus our apartment resembled how the city streets looked after all the fireworks… it was time for us to clean for the first time all year. 

Tales from Work

There has not been much to report on since our last blog update so I will share some stories from my work.  Although I should note, we ventured out for an exciting sledding trip last weekend which you can read about here.  

Also, I made it to my first European soccer match the weekend before- FC Bayern 2 : Schalke 0.  What can I say, it was absolutely incredible.  A blog would not even do it justice, but here is a photo.

Work Tale I

As is typical in R&D lab work, often times the instruments/equipment fail.  These machines have so many delicate, thoroughly integrated parts that a significant part of our jobs as “scientists” is to be “engineers” and fix broken equipment (part electrician, plumber, and architect). This is a constant battle.  Well since I arrived at Roche there has been a particularly nasty instrument-breaking-fairy roaming the lab which made 4 different instruments go temporarily kaput (remember your previous German lesson?).  Thankfully though, I work with a relatively light-hearted and fun bunch of people.  I learn to appreciate this the more I learn about other more typical German personalities. 

At the start of these problems they began to jokingly blame a French colleague; not because she is French, but because she was using most of the equipment and seemed like a common connection to the problems.  They are pretty funny about this too, one day I overheard them saying, “We opened up the instrument and found the problem was that the French colleague put a baguette inside the instrument rendering it kaput”. 

This kind of humor lasted for some time, but eventually it wore out and then was directed towards me.  They would say to me “what have you done” and “please don’t touch my instruments” etc.  Given the success of the ‘baguette’ joke, the funny guy decided to test his cleverness.  He said “we opened the instrument and found a…. (long pondering pause) uh….. a BEAN, inside that was causing the problems!” Well I found this to be really, really funny and I had to give him credit for first knowing regionally where Arizona is in the US and second for coming up with a symbolic food for our old home state.  I’m not sure I can come up with a better symbol myself- the avocado, orange, cotton, pecan, copper….I think I like a bean the best.  Thankfully now the baguettes and beans are being removed and some of the important instruments are starting to function again.

Work Tale II

I travelled to Waldkraiburg for some training last week-  oh you have never heard of it?  Well rightly so, some Germans can’t precisely place it on a map either, which gives you a sense of its size and spirit (60 miles east of Munich, population 24,000).  It was a successful trip - although there were slow moments I was able to clear up the direction and plans for my research project. 

My hotel was next to a mega-mart which was next to the company I was visiting- here is where I would sleep, eat, and work, respectively.  Although not exactly a thrilling social scene, this was a nice change from the long commutes I’ve grown accustomed to. 

Anyhow, this was a historical time in Waldkraiburg because they were currently hosting the 2012 world championships in “Eisstockschießen” where 20 countries were competing for the coveted trophy (including Brazil….who knew, right?).  We have noticed people playing this game out on the frozen canals and lakes all winter.  It is pretty much the equivalent of the kind of lawn games you would see at a tailgate party somewhere a.k.a. corn-hole.  It is kind of like curling but the discs have handles and there are no brooms.  Julie and I were prepared to buy some gear for next Eisstockschießen season until we realized it costs several hundred Euros for a set minimum….wow! 

Anyhow, so I ventured out on my last day to witness a piece of history.  I saw the Junior level long distance competition.  The scene there felt like one of those amateur tournaments shown on ESPN on Sunday morning or when the big 5 sport season is dormant- say cup stacking or world strongest man etc.  So I grabbed a beer, a bratwurst, and a front row seat as the action unfolded- quite simply who could throw the disc the furthest down a 200 m artificial ice track. I quickly observed distance thrown was proportional to mass of the thrower so the beefy German/Austrians had the advantage over the more athletic Italians/Brazilians.  Way to put yourself on the map Waldkraiburg and thanks for the good times!