Neighbourliness

UBC has become Unrestricted Building Consortium. Today, I wended my way through construction to the tow tank. At lunch, I discovered they removed our driveway. Pushing my 500-lb Virago through the lose dirt at the end of a long day, I dropped it. *argh*

FrACtaL LanDScaPes

I had a chance to read "The Colours of Infinity" while I was on the road - and found fractal designs lurking in all manner of natural scenes. Daydreaming from 10 km above the Earth, I found self-similar shapes in the Greenland coastline, mackerel clouds and pock-marked tundra.

Full Moon over Frankfurt

I made it to Frankfurt airport. Dragging 35 kilos of gear into Terminal D, I find the Condor check-in and snuggle into my sleeping bag on a full length bench in the main hall, where I sleep like the dead until it's daylight and passengers are streaming by like I'm a ghost. I've slept 2-1/2 hours. I scour the halls until I find a shower - herein, freshly cleaned by the attendant, I'm not sure if I'm dreaming.

Next stop - Canada.

Tea at midnight

I'm en route between where I've been and where I'm going. I've been on too many trains and through too many stations. It's midnight and all I need is a cup of tea. And here in the little hub of Mannheim, I find it. This family run shop is straight from Taiwan - tea steeped by pouring repeatedly between pots, then served with a sugar rock on a stick and a leaf-wrapped clod of sticky rice filled sweet bean paste. A little taste of Vancouver and home. Soon enough - just one more train and one long flight till I see my friends.

In the meantime, I listen to a published author who (takes my picture and) delights in the intricacies of regional grilled food. I describe tarte flambé, the Alsatian staple, for him.

Saarbrucken - wilkommen, wiedersehen!

As fast as I arrived, I am already leaving Saarbrucken. I stopped in for a quick interview on the tracks between graduation in Strasbourg and a flight home from Frankfurt. The entire town seems to be under construction. I was put off by the industrial landscape, reflected in the train station, but the local tourist information lady assured me enthusiastically there is lots to do here - and gave me a book of local bike routes too heavy to cart home.
After 2 weeks of traveling, I'm loaded to the gunnels for the trip home. Hope I don't fall asleep before my transfers!

Plethora of polyglots

I've been surrounded by people who are fluent in multiple languages, from my classmates to the marina operator I rented my boat from to my colleagues at OHB. I've been trying to become functional at least in the 2 official Canadian tongues and picking away at German - and today it all came into play.

Leaving Strasbourg on the morning train, I realized I was comfortable getting around in French. And arriving in Germany a couple hours later, I find I can function, at least to get my luggage to the lockers and catch the bus to an interview.

But the interview - aye, there's the rub. It was posted in German, but they wanted someone who speaks English well. I listed my mother language as English, but all the correspondence leading up to the interview was in German. So last night I read up on the company's new research partnership ... in German. I was so immersed in German that I forgot to speak French to the hotel desk clerk!

But today, it all came together, as I was introduced to my interviewers in German and, while they switched to English for the bulk of the interview, the professor also conversed with me in French. He thinks it would be fun to speak a different language every day at work! And there are also 3 Spanish students on the project - hope I can remember my survival Spanish from the camino ... but this job sounds like Spaß, l'amusement, la diversión, fun in any language!

Last fig-ure of Strasbourg

Just charging off to catch a train with my battery charger in hand (forgotten in hotel room ... almost). Had to stop to steal a fig from a tempting overhanging bough.

Last climb up the cathedral

Today, Fran & Mike climbed the 321 soft sandstone stairs of the Strasbourg cathedral with me.

Like the centuries of graffiti engraved above the gargoyles, Strasbourg has left its mark on me. The summer of hell, chilling on the back of Sam Suffi on the river and pedaling along endless canals. I won't miss the grimy streets, but I'm glad I spent a year here to really get to know it's byways.

A fond farewell to the sweet sounds of Strasbourg.