Part 51: Munich: Sausage and Beer October 31- November 1, 2012

Right after school on Wednesday, EL, SG, and I were off to the airport to spend our 4 day weekend in Munich, Germany.  After arriving and finding our accommodations we headed off to meet two of our friends for dinner at the Hofbräuhaus. 

Hofbräuhaus is the most famous beer hall in Munich.   It was founded in 1589 by a Duke of Bavaria and it has been in the same location (although I think it burned down a couple of times) since 1688.  It can hold 2500 people in the main hall and although it is a major tourist spot, some locals have permanently reserved beer steins and tables.  The food is traditional Bavarian fare.  In other words, they serve a lot of sausage.  I normally eat a hot dog about once a year and consider my yearly sausage intake to be met, but in the spirit of being in Germany, I got a bratwurst on sauerkraut.  A lot of sauerkraut.  We also had delicious pretzels and my friends all got liters of beer.  I eventually started falling asleep, so we walked back across the sticky floor towards the exit, stopping to take pictures of the amazing ceiling. 

The next day we woke up and headed to the city centre.  We were going to go to the tourist information center for a map, but we forgot that November 1 is a holiday in catholic countries.  Since everything was closed for All Saints Day, we checked out some local churches as the bells signaling the start of mass peeled. 

We first ducked into Frauenkirche (The Church of Our Lady).  The church was completed in 1488 but took a major hit during WWII (like most of the rest of Munich).  Luckily, they worked really hard on rebuilding and restoring it to its original condition.  The last restoration was only completed in 1994- 50 years after it was hit.  The outside of the church has two towers with very distinct onion-shaped domes.  I read that there were supposed to be Gothic style  towers (in other words, the towers were supposed to be pointy), but they ran out of money so they put domes on them instead. 

Inside the church was big and bright and very simply decorated but massive.  We got there right as mass was beginning so we couldn’t take pictures, however, I secretely recorded the start of the sung mass that was going on by appearing to really intently study the tomb of Emperor Ludwig IV of Bavaria.  The song was beautiful. 

From there, we walked towards the main theatre and the Royal Residence.  The Royal Residence’s entire front is under restoration, of course.  We took pictures anyway and continued walking up the street past Theatinerkirche, giant yellow domed church.  The inside was extrememly ornate, but we couldn’t take pictures because mass was still going on. 

We stopped at Starbucks on our was back to Marienplatz to watch the Neues Rathaus Glockenspiel.  The New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) is literally 1 block away from the Old Town Hall and was finished in 1874.  The building is a Gothic Revival architectural marvel, but that’s not the reason hundreds of tourists (including my friends and me) were there at 11 am.  We were there to watch the Glockenspiel. 

The Glockenspiel was added to the tower in 1908 and its 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures tell two stories.  On the top level, the story of the Duke Wilhelm V’s marriage to Renata of Lorraine is shown, complete with jousting knights.  I only recorded the knights first time around (when nothing happens) and unfortunately did not catch the Bavarian knight winning on the second go round. 

The bottom half is the Schäfflertanz (the coopers' dance).   In 1517 the plague came to Munich.  Supposedly the coopers danced through the streets to “bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions.”  Their dance showed loyalty to the duke in difficult times and apparently this dance is performed by actual people in Munich every 7 years ever since (talk about long-standing traditions). 

After the Glockenspiel finished, we were off to visit Dachau Concentration Camp.  While Auschwitz-Birkenau’s 1.1 million murders far outnumber Dachau’s 32,000 deaths, Dachau is important because it was the first Nazi concentration camp to ever be opened.  It opened in 1933 as a prison camp for political prisoners and wasn’t liberated by American Troops until 1945. 

Dachau was the model for all camps that followed it and it also served as the training facility for the SS Death Squad- the guards at all other camps.   After 1938, all types of prisoners were detained here, over 200,000 in all.  Along with the horrible treatment, many deaths were caused by a massive typhus outbreak in 1945 and death marches that took to and from Dachau at the end of the war increased deaths even more. 

As you approach the entrance to the camp you can still see the train platform and railroad tracks were trains full of people used to arrive.  The iron gate has been reconstructed to look just like the original with the words “work makes you free” written on the top.  After passing through the gate, you can see the main camp yard, 2 reconstructed barracks and the maintenance building.  We started by walking back towards the bunker. 

The bunker is not actually a bunker but a prison for “special prisoners.”  There were several Catholic priests that were held here, a British Intelligence agent, and George Elser- the man who tried to assassinate Hitler using a bomb in 1939.  The  bunker was the place you did not want to be sent.  Many murders took place in the bunker (by guards and other prisoners) and the practice of pole-hanging (putting people’s hands behind their backs and then hanging them from a pole by their wrists) was common torture technique. 

From there, I went through the main memorial in front of the maintenance building.  It goes down into a depression to represent the oppression experienced there and then comes out on the other side by a memorial holding the ashes of an unknown prisoner and a wall saying “Never Again” in several languages.  Above the center of the memorial is a sculpture representing the electric barbed wire of the fences and prisoners committing suicide by throwing themselves into it, which was a common occurrence due to the horrible conditions of the camp.  There is also a sculpture showing the different colored triangles that the Nazis used to label people at the camp.

From the memorial, I visited the reconstructed portion of fence before going to the museum in the Maintenance building to see the museum film.  The Maintenance building originally served many functions for the camp.  It housed the kitchens (not that they really fed the prisoners), laundry (again, not really used for the prisoners), the bath houses, and some offices.  Now, the maintenance building houses a great museum with a lot of really interesting information that I won’t write about here because this post is already getting long.

From the maintenance building I went through the reconstructed barracks.  There were originally 20 barracks that were designed to hold 250 people, but at the time of liberation 1600 people were in each.  I then walked past the concrete foundations of the original barracks, one of which housed the brothel.  Women prisoners from other camps were put into this brothel and a visit there was a reward for hard work.  Just when you think it can’t get worse. 

At the back of the camp are several religious memorials.  One is a Catholic chapel, since over 3,000 Catholic priests and bishops were in the camp.  Next to it, of course, is the Jewish memorial.  On the opposite side is the protestant chapel memorial and across the bridge to the crematorium is the Russian Orthodox chapel memorial.  All major persecuted groups’ religions are present.  At the back, under the guard tower is an entrance to the Carmelite Convent.  It is a working convent of nuns who feel it is their duty to pray about what went on at the camp and the prisoners that were there.

After visiting the memorials, I walked over to the crematorium.  Since so many people were dying in this camp, they actually had to build a second, larger crematorium to keep up with all the bodies.  It was very difficult seeing these furnaces.  You always see pictures of them in history classes, but seeing them in real life makes the true horror of all of it very real.  I stood in a room where they used to pile hundreds of bodies up before they were burnt.  Ugh, awful.

Dachau also had a gas chamber, though it was never used for mass extermination.  Still, to see the fake shower heads and the drawers where pellets that let off Zyklon B gas were put was surreal.  All around the crematorium are mass graves and sites where ashes are buried.  There is also a memorial statue showing a prisoner.  The words were in German, so I don’t know what it said, but the statue itself was a powerful image. 

I don’t know that I would call my trip to Dachau fun, because it wasn’t.  However, it was interesting and important.  People were responsible for this horrifying portion of history and only people can stop it from happening again. 

On the train back to Munich we met a man who was a physics teacher, but he quit his job to take a 3 month trip to Europe.  I wish I didn't have major bills to pay and could just travel around.... sigh. 

That night we ate at Augustina, another beer hall with German food.  I ate some delicious lentil-sausage-potato pasta thing, and although I liked it, I am not eating anymore sausage for the next year. 

Part 50: Mladost: A Runner's Field Guide October 27, 2012

As a runner, I log upwards of 30 miles per week.  After putting in all these miles, I have learned that running in Mladost is rife with hazards.   This entry will help you identify these hazards so as not to be taken unawares.  You should also remember the Number One Rule:  Lift your feet.  Most of these hazards are just waiting to catch your toe and send you crashing to the pavement (or whatever it is your running on).  So let’s get started.

1.  The Curb:  Our first hazard is one that knocked me down this summer and gave me some lovely road rash.  The curb is not level with the rest of the sidewalk.  This is true more often than it is untrue. 

 

2.  Potholes:  While the sidewalks are the worst, the roads also have obstacles that can roll your ankles if you’re not paying attention.

3.  Random pipes:  I assume these used to hold street signs.  Now, they are just potential sources of tetanus. 

 

4.  Electrical covers:  These are EVERYWHERE.  Beware, they are usually not level with the ground and some, as you can see, are no longer integrally sound. 

5.  Paving blocks:  My friend H believes that there are warehouses full of these concrete stones left over from communist times and they won’t start using poured concrete for sidewalks until those are all used up.  They create many hazards:

• Uneven sidewalks:  I don’t know about you, but I prefer my sidewalk to roll and change like the ocean blowing in a small hurricane.

• Deteriorating sidewalks. 

 

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• Loose sidewalks: If someone with more sound editing prowess than me wanted to, I’m pretty  sure they could record the nice “plunk” sounds these stones make and turn them into an interesting song.  (PS: people definitely thought I was a crazy person while filming this)

6.  Disappearing sidewalks:  Sometimes the sidewalk will cease to exist.  Adjust accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.  Cars on the sidewalk:  Sidewalk.  Parking Lot.  They’re the same, right?

8.  Stray dogs:  The only dog I ever believed was going to bite me while I ran belonged to someone, but better to be safe than sorry.  However, this one is really cute. 

9.  Light poles:  Why are they ALWAYS in the middle of the sidewalk? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.  Pedestrians and commuters:  People at the bus stop will not move to let you by, so be prepared to weave. 

11.  Cars:  Perhaps the most dangerous things in Mladost are the moving vehicles being driven by people that think 40 mph is an okay speed for a neighborhood. 

These are the main Mladost runners’ hazards.  A great way to avoid them is to utilize the Mladost bike trail.  This trail is a couple of miles of uninterrupted POURED concrete.  However, remember to observe the Number 1 Rule, as obstacles (such as hot dog stands, speed bumps, and manhole covers) can still sneak up on you. 

 

Good Luck!  Stay fit!

Part 49: Plumbing, Hiking, and More Plumbing October 23, 2012

Plumbing: 
Apparently there is a massive water leak somewhere in the police academy and since we share a campus, it’s our problem too.  We have been sporadically without water/attached to the old undrinkable well for the last 5 days.  On the up side, the well has great water pressure.  On the down side, Pink House has old pipes.  We found one leak as it was coming through our kitchen ceiling.  Oops.  It was quickly fixed however, and I enjoyed the best shower I’ve ever had in this house.  Oh water pressure, how I’ve missed you.  J 

Hiking: 
I wasn’t too concerned about our lack of H₂O at home because on Sunday I was going hiking!  The Hiking Club is my favorite chaperoning activity so at 7:15 am, MR and I were off to the bus stop.  We met up with TV  (wait a second, both of their initials are also abbreviations) to go to Zheleznitsa (or something to that effect) to begin our climb up to the peak of Cherni Vrah, the 4^th highest mountain in Bulgaria with an elevation of 2290 m/7500 ft. 

The weather was beautiful and the climb was great.  The hut we stopped at even had soap in the bathroom.  Soap!  We reached the summit ahead of schedule and had lunch before beginning our descent.  We were going down a different way so we could take the Simeonovo Gondola, which comes down right behind IKEA, which is right behind campus.  Convenient. 

My friend and Hiking Club supervisor, DZ, keeps a running count of how often I fall when going down a mountain because I always fall.   This time, I rolled my ankle on a relatively flat part of trail and went over.  After getting back up, a small child grabbed my arm, and according to the student next to me, called me his princess, told me he was from Plovdiv, and told me his mother once broke her leg hiking.  Thanks, kid.  That’s just what I wanted to hear.  He then asked me why I didn’t speak Bulgarian. 

The rest of my downward trek was uneventful in spite of the fact that the student leaders of the club chose to follow a series of boulders left behind by glaciers that sort of made a trail even though the actual trail was 100 ft to our left.  At the bottom, the teachers managed to procure 6 lev student tickets for the Gondola, rode down, and proceeded to walk home.  On campus we passed the adorable puppies at the back gate.  (please feel free to "aaaahhhh" over the picture)

More plumbing: 
This morning, the well connection to Pink House ceased to work, but I didn’t realize this.  I got up, used the toilet, and washed my hands.  All seemed normal as I left for my morning run.  From now on, I can guarantee that you were not doing the same thing at 7:30 am that I was.  I got back from my run, turned on the shower, and …. nothing happened.  So, at 7:30 in the morning, I was running through my yard to my boss’s house wearing flip flops and my swimsuit cover-up shirt and carrying my towel and shampoo to shower.  They had water, but it was cold.  Then, I could be seen running back across the yards.  Same story, except now my towel was on my head.  I’m just glad I didn’t have to go to work as a sweaty mess and I still made it there on time.

Part 48: Science Safety Rules, CC Cards, and Other Random Bits of Awesome. Oct 10, 2012

Science Safety Rules

Twice a year, every student in science classes has to be read the “Science Safety Rules.”  Then they must sign a document saying they’ve been read the rules.   This year, I was chosen to take care of the 11^th grade.  This was my first encounter with the “Science Safety Rules.”  Some, such as “When diluting an acid, pour the acid into water. Never pour water into the acid,” are really important.  Others are ridiculous.  Today, I want to highlight my favorite section: the safety shower.  The emphasized sections are not mine.  This is from the actual document:

When and how to use the safety shower

• Shower should be used for fire EMERGENCY only!
• If you (or a lab mate) is ON FIRE, position yourself (or your lab mate) under the safety shower.
• Pull the handle and a deluge of water will result.
• Flames will be rapidly extinguished.
• The safety shower should also be used if you suffer a massive spill of a dangerous chemical on yourself, and need to get it off rapidly.
•  However, in a high school laboratory, this will seldom be necessary.

First of all, I love that fire EMERGENCY is red and in capitals.  ON FIRE and the parenthetical (or a lab mate)’s in the next line are great for comedic effect when reading to the class.  The contradiction between the first line and second to last line is a nice touch.  Finally, I don’t remember the last time I saw the word deluge used in a sentence not written by a poet.  (Plus, who knew that a deluge of water would put out a fire?)

CC Cards

In other news, I got a thank you card from my cousin, CC, this week.  In true CC fashion, she filled up both inside panels and the back.  She has done this with every card she has ever sent me.  

Other Random Bits of Awesome

I am playing intramural volleyball against the students this Friday.  Uchiteli United had a practice yesterday and my red, bruised arms reminded me of why I prefer sports played with your feet.  Like…

Soccerfootball!  Uchiteli United (which is the name of the teacher team in all of the intramural tournaments) hasn’t had a game yet, but I’ve unofficially joined the girls’ football club to prepare for our matches.  However, I have to tone down my playing a bit to play with them and they all flinch whenever I come near them.  Apparently, I’m scary.  It’s probably the only situation in which I am scary. 

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent."  Basically, they found a way to take a differentiated cell (like a skin cell) and turn it back into a cell that is capable of differentiating into any type of tissue cell, or a stem cell.  Embryonic stem cells, which most people have probably heard of, are debated upside down and sideways in ethics.  Previously, it was thought that embryos were the only place to find these cells.  This new discovery could pave the way for stem cell research that can take place without the ethical debate surrounding embryonic cells, which is great since stem cell research is showing promising developments in treating diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and in organ/tissue regeneration.  Science for the win.  http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/press.html

More Bits:  Slime molds have "externalized spatial memory"  which is kind of awesome.  They can navigate a maze by detecting areas they have slimed before.  Therefore they do not retrace their "steps." 

And One Final Random:  An outbreak of my favorite opportunistic parasite, Naegleria fowleri, has occurred in Pakistan.  This amoeba normally lives in warm freshwater and feeds on bacteria.  It does not need to become a parasite to survive.  However, if you dunk your head under that water and it gets into your nose or ear, it eats its way into and through your brain.  That’s right.  It’s a brain-eating amoeba.  Science fiction could not have done any better than nature in this case.  Unfortunately for those infected in Pakistan, the case fatality rate is 98% and in the 123 known cases in the US in the last 50 years, only one person has survived.  This is a decidedly less-awesome fact; however the organism itself is pretty cool. 

Part 47: Veliko Tarnovo September 28-30, 2012

Electrical Box, Veliko Tarnovo

Nine of the international teachers (EB & BB, RB, KP, MD, EL, SG, AD and me) decided to take a weekend road trip to Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.  It started out on Friday afternoon when I went with AD to pick up the rental car at the airport.  The counseling office intern gave us a ride and the airport store had m&m’s, so all was going well until we got out to our car.  The car was fine.  The hatchback parked in front of our car was not.  The rental car lady said she would get her colleague to come and move the hatchback, but we waited, and waited, and then, we waited a little more and no one ever came.  Being women of action, we then rammed the hatchback out of our way and…

Ok, so that’s not what really happened.  The parking spot to the left of our car was empty and we thought we could make it out.  So, I got out and helped AD not back into the chain behind us or the car on our right and through a 15 point turn, we successfully left the rental car lot.  The first of many “driving in Bulgaria” adventures on this trip. 

We made it back to campus and about half an hour later we were on the road to Veliko Tarnovo.  I quickly became an important driving assistant as I unwrapped AD an Oreo and successfully extracted the annoying driver’s side floor mat from under her feet.  We talked about a myriad of topics, including (much to EL’s chagrin), what MD’s ideal wedding dress will look like. 

After about an hour, I had to call ahead to RB and KP’s car (Britney Spears) because someone in our car (and they shall remain nameless) already had to pee.  My dad would have been really annoyed and banned all drink consumption, but we were a more understanding bunch and all secretly wanted chips anyway, so it was fine. 

As we drove down the road listening to AD’s mix CD’s we also got to hear a lot of AD’s swearing.  This was mostly due to more “driving in Bulgaria” adventures.  Every time a stereotypically black Mercedes came up behind us at 100 mph and tail gated us until it found an appropriate curve or hill to pass on (seriously, how we don’t see a car accident every time we go out on a road is beyond me), we were privy to AD’s most poetic outbursts.  All that aside, we made it to our hotel, where the guy told us to back into the garage.  At that point AD just gave up and EL backed it in for us. 

That night we went out to eat dinner at Shtastlivetsa, the number 2 restaurant in town according to Trip Advisor.  It was very good (I had spaghetti) and had interesting antique-y décor.  Then we continued down the main street and found a rock and roll bar, but it was quickly vetoed as we were not the appropriate clientele.  We ended up at the Irish bar for a little while before we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, SG and I were the first people down to breakfast.  It was very good, but there were cats everywhere (ok, only 5ish).  I don’t mind cats except I am allergic to them.  That might be an understatement.  I have nose-running, eyes swelling, face itching, throat scratching reactions to those things even if they never touch me.  So, after everyone else came down, I couldn’t stay until they were done because the sniffles were starting and my whole face was itching just from being in the same room with those creatures (the cats, not the people). 

Our first stop that day was Tsarevets, the old fortress and castle.  During the Second Bulgarian Empire, it was the primary fortress and protected the royal palace.  It fell to the Ottomans in 1393, marking the end of the Bulgarian Empire and the start of Ottoman rule, which lasted until 1877.  On the fortress hill, 400 residential buildings have been discovered.  There were also 22 churches and 4 monasteries.  It was very large.  Some of it has been reconstructed, but most of it is in ruins. 

On the way up the hill, you pass through the gates and climb up past some bells (clearly modern and not original) to a reconstructed church on top of the hill.  The inside of the church was painted in 1985 and is really modern and interesting.  It was unlike any other church I’ve ever seen.  EL took pictures for us, but I haven’t gotten them from him yet, so here’s a link. 

The group split up from there.  EL, SG, and I explored the rest of the fortress and I made friends with a stray dog.  On the way out, SG and EL paid 4 leva each to dress up in armor and ride a fake horse.  Best pictures of the trip.  We then headed back into the town towards an island-type formation that holds the Monument of the Assens and the art gallery.

The Monument of the Assens was built to honor the 800^th anniversary of when Veliko Tarnovo became the capital of Bulgaria.  It depticts Bulgarian kings Assen the 1^st, Peter, Kaloyan, and Ivan Assen the 2^nd.  These four kings ruled from 1185-1241, which was the high point of the Second Bulgarian Empire.  It is an interesting monument mad of metal and stone that depicts the kings riding their horses into battle.  It also features Mary and Jesus (we knew it was Jesus because he was doing the “Jesus hand”), but it was weird because it looked like Jesus was coming out of Mary’s chest.  Hmmm.  Moving on.

We went through the art gallery.  The paintings were nice, but even better, it was cool in there.  Afterwards, we walked back up to the older part of town and through a main shopping street before we went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. 

We were leaving at 6:30 and at 6:10, MD walks in to have SG braid her hair.  I am sitting on my bed watching YouTube (ah, productivity) and sorting out some of the letters of recommendation I had to write.  She looks at me and what I’m wearing and points out that we’re leaving soon.  She hasn’t known me long enough yet to recognize that other than changing out my leggings for jeans, I don’t put that much effort into my “clubbing” look. 

We ate dinner that night at Ego, the #3 restaurant in town.  I got some approximation of Asian sesame chicken that was pretty good and our waitress really handled our indecision and disorganization well.  From there, we watched the Manchester United game at the Tequila Bar down the street before heading to Club Spider.  Best thing about that place was that my shoes and teeth glowed under the black light, they had musical instruments on the ceiling and the front of a car on the wall.  The music was loud, so I ended up putting tissues in my ears (rolled like earplugs, not just hanging out).  

The next morning, we headed out and had “driving in Bulgaria” adventure #4.  There was a Hummer parked so close to the garage, that once again, a 20 point turn was needed to get out.  Eventually we were on our way.  Britney’s occupants (RB, KP, EL, and MD) were going hiking, but our car was heading to Shipka Pass. 

Shipka pass is a slightly scary road through the Balkan Mountains (elevation 3820 ft) that takes you by Shipka Monument.  The monument was built in honor of the Battle of Shipka Pass during the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and 1878.  Built in 1934, you reach it by climbing 900 (not exaggerating here) steps.  Or, as we discovered 900 steps later, YOU CAN DRIVE TO THE TOP.  However, I guess the exercise didn’t hurt me.  From the top of the stairs, you can see the monument, which houses a museum, and a great view of the surrounding mountains, including Buzludzha, our next stop. 

We took the stairs back down and started along the really run down and narrow mountain road from Shipka to Buzludzha (elevation 4728 ft).  We parked at the Torch Monument below and began to walk up yet again (and I would like to point out, again, that it is possible to drive to the top).  

This mountain has seen a lot of action.  It was the site of a battle against the Turks in 1868 and the location of a secret meeting in 1891 where Dimitar Blagoev organized a socialist movement.  In 1981, the Bulgarian Communist government opened the Buzludzha Monument to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of this meeting.  The monument is a building that looks a lot like a space ship.  It is abandoned and in disrepair now, but when it was built, it had great views of the surrounding mountains and the inside was covered in mosaics and marble.  Apparently, the Bulgarian government recently turned ownership back over to the socialist party, but they haven’t yet agreed what to do with it.

As we headed back to Sofia, we were trying not to buy gas until we had to return the car, but Garmin took us a weird way back to the city and we ended up stopping at a Shell station where we were informed by the rudest gas station attendant I’ve ever encountered that “This is Bulgaria.”  No.  Kidding.  And here we had all been thinking we were in Kansas.  He also yelled at AD because she didn’t know which side the rental car’s gas tank was on.  It was a rental, sheesh. 

Anyway, we did make it home and, gas station man aside, it was a great weekend.