Summer Bugs... they're not all nice...

Bugs like me. I don't like bugs.

Yesterday morning I woke up with 5 bug bites on my person. One in the middle of my back where I find it very difficult to scratch. One on my shoulder, on the back of my arm, and on my elbow, and one on my bum. Some people say it's because I'm sweet... others because I have O+ blood type... and others because it keeps the bugs away from them! To say the least, my summer perfume is OFF! Deep Woods formula, but I refuse to wear the stuff to bed! So bugs, STAY AWAY!

If that wasn't enough, I went running yesterday evening in the hour of down time that I had from my experiments. It was about 7:45 when I started running so I didn't wear sunglasses because it was getting dark. My mistake! I am surprised that I didn't get bit by any mosquito's, but I got 3 bugs in my eyes!! One just flew straight into my eye at full speed. There was no stopping it. I could even feel it moving around in there... yuck! Then I got one in the other eye, but it was in the corner of my eye and easy to remove. Another just got tangled in my eyelashes. This is ignorning the several bugs that flew into my mouth that I did not appreciate, but it isn't as bad as the eye.

Now, can you really blame a girl for being a little skiddish around bugs?

TB Tests

In January of this year, I was working in the BSL3 lab where we work with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the real deal that can make you sick) when a glass pasteur pipette that I had been using to wash cells that were infected with M.tb broke, cut through both pairs of gloves that I was wearing and cut me. My whole glove had filled up with blood. While still inside the lab, I sprayed the cut with the disinfectant Vesphene, tore off all other protective gear that couldn't leave the lab, exited the lab, took off my N95 respirator, head and foot gear, gown and lastly, my 2nd pair of gloves. The cut on my finger was small, but there was a lot of blood that came out and I was concerned that I had been infected with M.tb.

It takes about 6 months to test positive for M.tb infection once you have been exposed to the pathogen. I got the cut in January and so now in June, it was time for my bi-annual Tuberculin test (click on the Title link above to learn more). I had my injection on Tuesday. That day I did have redness around the site of injection. Wednesday I still had about 1 centimeter diameter around the site... not looking good... but today, Thursday, I will go into the nurse's clinic with a clean arm and no indication of exposure to tuberculosis. Thank God! Yesterday I was stressing just a little bit. I have never had redness of any kind for my PPD test.

These are some of the dangers of working with pathogens, and the proper precautions are taken to ensure maximum safety for everyone involved, but accidents do happen. But for now, I am still TB free!

Lots on my mind...

Maybe it's the rain, but it's probably just me. I've got a lot on my mind right now... experiments, results, boys, my future, mean girls, my waistline, my brain capacity, winning bets, you get it. If I seem down, I am, just a little. I am having a hard time living in the present because my mind is stuck in the future. Hopefully the sunshine tomorrow will change all of that...

Bad Daughter

Ok. so despite being reminded of Father's Day, I totally dropped the ball on that one! I had every intention of not only calling my Dad, but also my brother Craig.

Let me tell you a bit about them. My dad has one of the best attitudes ever. He is almost always "feeling good" even though he isn't. He's very positive and a "life is what you make of it" kind of guy. He has always put our family first. He works hard and everyone likes him. He and my mom have started bike riding recently. They got some bikes handed down to them... but poor mom, there's so much separation when your biking... it's hard to chat! So, what does my dad do? He goes and gets a bicycle built for two so they can ride and chat all at the same time! What a guy...


My brother Craig is really turning into an incredible man. He was kinda the punk of the family growing up, but he has turned into a really admirable guy... just like dad. Craig has two sons. Matthew (about 9 years old) and Corbin (about 1 month old). It is so clear how much he loves is wife Ana and just pours into the life of his boys. He works hard and loves his family. I can't wait to see what else life brings him.

Irish is a Language

Last night I had dinner with Gabor (the Hungarian), Orla (an Irish woman from Dublin), Sundya (an Indian woman), Brian (an Englishman) and me of course, the American. It is so amazing to hear all of there stories... Gabor grew up in a country that was dominated by communism. Brian grew up in the Bahamas, and Orla grew up walking to school with men holding machine guns lining the streets and in a world where terrorism was a very close reality.

We talked a lot about the different cultures that each of us know and experienced. One of the very major differences is that the Europeans seemed to know each other's histories, currencies, etc. and I knew very little. I grew up in a world where Russia/USSR/Soviet Union was evil, Ireland was dangerous and India was dirty. The differences between all of us scientists sitting around the dinner table was unbelievable to me. I felt like I needed to go home and study European history.

One of the biggest things that made me feel like a complete idiot was to find out that Irish is a language. Seriously, they all speak English, how was I supposed to know that they had another language too? Apparantly they all speak English in the home, but are required to learn Irish in school and have to pass exams etc. on the language to graduate high school. Don't I feel smart...

It was a good time though. And I really hope that I am always surrounded by people from different cultures... I love to learn about their lives.

Things that stood out while in Germany:

1. Graffiti-- It was everywhere. Heidelberg, Munich, Bonn, Cologne, Frankfurt. According to my friends that live there, the punishment is not harsh enough for the "artists" and so it never stops. It was really ugly.

2. Public Displays of Affection-- Everywhere I went, there were people full-on-making-out in public. Normally, in the US it would be teenagers... but in Germany, it was people of all ages. I was a little bit bothered by the number of couples that I saw all over each other in public. On water fountains, in parks, at restaurants... everywhere. I pointed this out to my friend Andrea and she said "well, it's spring time".

3. Men in Capri Pants-- in the US, if a guy wears capri pants, an American will think that person is gay. It is just not common. In Germany however, there were guys everywhere in capri's or "cropped pants" (whichever sounds better to you).

4. Grocery Differences-- eggs are not kept in the refrigerated section of the supermarket (I don't know why, but I thought that was gross) and there are two types of milk "fresh" milk and the kind of milk that has been super-boiled (as explained to me). Neither was found in the refrigerated section. Also, if you want beef, good luck. Pork is everywhere, but you've got to get to the store first thing if you want beef.

5. Bikes-- Have you ever seen a woman in a skirt suit and heels riding her bike to work? I have. I loved the sight of it. I mostly only witnessed that in Munich, but there were people on bikes everywhere. The cool thing about it was that it was so common that cars were really aware of bicyclists.

6. Ice Cream-- It is perfectly acceptable, by all standards, to be eating an ice cream at 10am on a hot day. Everyone's doing it...

7. Beer-- Obviously. Breakfast lunch and dinner. (Depending on the person).

8. Bra Straps-- They don't care how much of their undergarment is showing... so you shouldn't either.

The People of Munich

I just realized that the week is flying by... and here I am letting pictures sit in my private files! I am at a loss... my brain is on overload, so I think that I will tell you about some of the fun times I had in Munich that didn't involve me seeing historical things.

In Munich, I stayed at my friend Peter's apartment. He lives with his fantastic girlfriend Barbara just a couple minutes walk after you get off the subway at the Kolumbusplatz exit (if you can figure out which set of stairs to take up to the street level).

He lives in the same building as his friend Mathias and since they hang out a lot, I also had the pleasure of his company each night the group of us went out. (Pictured below here with me)

One of the nights I was there, Peter had some friends over, including his brother Klause (below right) and he made pizza's and we all hung out. It was loads of fun... not to mention the pizza's were fantastic!

I also met up with my friend Mike who I have known for about 4 years now. We used to go to the same church out here in MA and he has been living out in Munich for about 2 years now. It was good to see him, but I didn't see much of him because he was moving apartments so we couldn't catch up until my last day. But we enjoyed a good lunch and a good chat at the famous Hofbrauhaus.

I also did a bike tour of the city while I was there. I went solo because Barbara and Peter and Mathias had to work so I just cruised. It was a nice tour (minus the tourguide). It was a "free" bike tour (you only tip what you want to at the end) but they try to get you to tip big by trying to make it funny. Our tourguide, Lenny (the name alone should have been enough of a warning sign), was mostly crude and not funny. It was terrible, absolutely nobody laughed at pretty much anything he said, but he kept going. Unbelievable. But anyhow, I did meet a nice lady, Mary, on the tour. She has four kids, the oldest of whom is my age, but nobody wanted to do the tour with her so she was solo too. She was nice and we were able to chat quite a bit. Later on in the evening, after the tour, she saw me walking across the courtyard and she hollered for me to come join her and her family for a beer. I had nothing better to do, so I thought, why not? So I sat with them for an hour or so and just chatted... it was fun.

So those are the people of Munich... more about my adventures another day!

Heidelberg Castle

On my first full day in Heidelberg, Andrea and I went to go see the big castle on the hill in Heidelberg. The cool thing about where she lived was that it was only about a 5 minute walk from her house to the entrance of the castle. I really like ancient history and so I was thrilled to go and walk around. One major bummer about Germany though is that to see anything inside (n matter where I was in the country), you have to take the guided tours. To be totally honest, I can only handle so much "guiding" when I am on vacation... so we only saw the castle grounds and the giant wine barrel and the German Museum of Pharmacy. All in all, it was a good day. Here are some pictures:

Schwetzinger Castle

Just outside of Heidelberg.... with the most amazing garden! I love gardens... this is just a taste. Andrea said that not too many tourists come here because it's a bit out of the way and people don't usually have time for seeing this. She said I was the only non-German speaker that she saw/heard!

Fun at the River

In Germany the rules about drinking are a bit different than in the US. The first thing is that they have absolutely no problem with drinking at the park or while walking down the street. They can even drink while in the car as long as their BAC is lower than the legal limit. I should note that they also take drinking and driving very seriously and it isn't something that they take lightly. One of the days that I was there, Andrea and I took our books and a blanket and sat by the river and read and drank a beer. I look quite happy don't you think? Here are some pictures too of me and some riverside pictures of Heidelberg.

Secret Pleasure

Recently we have had fantastic weather in New England. So I am going to take a small break from telling stories about my travels in Germany to tell you something personal. I absolutely LOVE sleeping with my window open on nights when it is warm enough. I love to feel the breeze on my feet while I am falling asleep and I love waking up to the happy little chirping birds in the trees in the crisp morning air. My bed is perfectly arranged so that my feet and my legs collect the sweet breeze that passes through my window while I lie there in bed.

It's the little things in life...

German Surfers

Germany is not totally land-locked. Parts of its borders in the north touch the ocean, but I am unsure about whether there are waves there. As a surfer girl myself, I am very keen on watching surfing. While in Heidelberg, my friend Andrea and I spotted a guy in a wet suit paddling up the Nekar on a short-board. There are absolutely zero waves on that river except perhaps the residual wake from a boat passing. I hollered down at the guy and said, “Yo dude, you should head out to California for some real surf!” I think he was totally startled, but he yelled back up, “Ya, I like to surf in Australia and France!” Then he just continued paddling for the shore. You can see him below. It totally cracked me up!



There were more surfers in Munich on the Isar in the English Garden. The difference is, there is a man-made wave that comes along that people line up to do some surfing solos. One major difference here is the direction of the water-flow when you are on the wave. Another major difference is that you aren’t allowed to surf there. Nobody stops these crazy dudes because there is a sign posted saying that you aren’t allowed to surf there. That way, if you get hurt, you can’t sue because you were warned!

Third Reich Tour

So on my last day in Munich, I took a walking tour that was about Third Reich architecture and art and history in general. The woman who gave the tour got her masters degree in Art History and is also a museum tour guide. She was a tiny little thing from Bavaria. It was incredibly interesting to learn history about the Hitler era from a German perspective. To be honest, before my holiday, I still thought of Germany as a scary place to be simply because of the Holocaust. Even having German friends didn’t change my skepticism. After all, my grandfather was in the army during World War II.

What was most striking to me about the tour was the emphasis that the tour guide put on Germany’s current struggle for identity. After all, not every white skinned, blonde haired German was a Nazi. Even the ones that were Nazi’s were coerced into being Nazi’s because if they didn’t join, they would have to watch their entire families being killed before them. Many of them in fact, were completely unaware of the existence of the concentration camps and it was hard work by others to make that known.

The identity problem today, as I understand it, is that it is hard for Germans to be proud of their heritage as they feel the burden of having started two world wars in the last century. The tour guide said that she had been in France on vacation as a little girl and someone walked by and said “oh what a cute little [brown-haired] French girl” and she felt so proud that they didn’t think that she was German. I could hardly believe it when I heard it. Germans make it clear that any feelings of superiority in any way is a bad thing… so if a person is boastful about anything, it is very much frowned upon (going back to the shame associated with Hitler’s ethnic cleansing). Munich itself has even more identity problems because it was Hitler’s favorite city and the place where all of the terrible happenings of WWII began.

It is also very rare to see a German flag flying on buildings or anywhere! I took a picture when I saw one because I hadn’t seen many. The German people are counting on the current younger generation to shape what the world image of Germany will be; a generation to hopefully accept the past and move forward with a better and brighter future. Hopefully for Munich this will also mean more sites around the city marking it’s important history.

It was very interesting to hear about this important piece of history from this perspective. The tour was really fantastic despite that being a very cold day!

Here are some pictures, and there is a link on the title above to a site that has some interesting stories that I found out about because a couple of them are engraved on the outside walls of the Jewish Museum Munich that I found after wandering around in an open-air market with some links to stories told by Germans who lived through the second World War and more. Check it out.

Hofbraeuhaus: the largest Biergarten in Munich. Also where Hitler started getting together with his political followers.

The cieling of the modern art museum in Munich. Hitler was a huge fan of art. This building was originally to house traditional German/Roman art that Hitler loved so well. He did not like modern art and because of this artists' style, he never got into art school despite his multiple attempts. He even went through great lengths to convince people that modern art was trash. You can see the swastika's in the design above.

Not a great picture of me, but a good one of the White Rose memorial commemorating some students at a local university who had made every effort to get the word out about the concentration camps. Because the camps were not in Germany, many people were unaware that they existed. Their efforts did a lot of good, but also led to their execution when they were caught for passing out flyers with the information on them.

A golden path made "golden" due to the wear on the cobblestones from people going this route to avoid having to salute one of Hitler's monuments while passing by. If people did not pay the proper respects, they could be killed for disloyalty.

Back in Worcester

I'm back. Jetlagged, but back. I have gotten so used to using a German keyboard that I am now going to the "Z" key when I really want "Y" and to be honest, I think that the reverse is also true, but I just don't use the "Z" button all that much. I'm doing a lot of backspacing, but hopefullz I'll be back to normal soon.

Got some really great data today in the lab... a good welcome back present. I'm still high off that... hopefully I will be able to sleep tonight.

Pictures to come...