Back to blogging

Well, after 10 months in Germany, it is really time to start updating the blog again.



First a recap: Denise arrived here in Germany in late October 2008, followed by me in January. We have now settled in pretty well and will be staying around until 2011 as Denise has gotten a new job as a postdoc at Uni Jena in the AquaDiv@Jena program, where she will be looking at diversity of life in groundwater systems. As for me, while I am officially a "Hausmann," I will continue with my website work for now and have started my own company to do it, Bouwma Communication Design. Hopefully I will be able to continue getting some business since this is a great way for me to keep busy here and still allows a great deal of flexibility in my work. Plus I love the work.

In general, we both love most everything about Germany. For the most part it isn't all that different from home, with a few notable exceptions. For one, locally grown, fresh, and organic foods are easy to find and don't cost more than the stuff you get at the supermarket. In fact many of the supermarkets sell this stuff. What this means is that the food is fantastic and we have both lost some weight since we got here. We also love that we don't need a car here since you can bike or ride the trains almost anywhere. This has also likely contributed to our collective weight loss.



The people are great and we have made a bunch of friends, both German and from the states. Especially in the summer, nothing is quite like sitting outside at a cafe or pub and having a nice cold beer with good company. Oh, I should also mention that the beer is excellent too, even the "cheap" stuff. All the beer is pretty cheap though and costs about the same as the equivalent sized soda, juice, or water. No complaints here.



There are some things that are tough too. For example, nothing but restaurants are open on Sunday or after about 8 PM on the weekdays. You really need to plan ahead to make sure you make it to the store before it closes. Also, the time difference (6 hrs) with the states makes it really tough to keep up with folks back home. And, of course, not speaking the language is a bit tough too. Right now we are keeping our German friends busy as translators as I get my driver's license, we rent a new apartment, sign contracts for work, health insurance, and residency. We will owe everyone big time once this is all through. It is not that we aren't learning the language, but things are "sehr langsam" as the Germans might say (very slow).



We have been lucky enough to do some traveling. We have been to Western Germany several times (Cologne, Duisberg, Bochum, and Frankfurt), to Switzerland, and the UK. We visited our friends Elke, Stuart and Qobelo in Cologne, saw a soccer game in Duisberg, went to a conference in Bochum, and have really only been to the airport in Frankfurt. In Switzerland, Denise had a conference in Davos, so I tagged along as the driver as a good portion of the Küsel lab went to the conference. It was a great time and we also got to see Denise's former advisor Joel Kostka there as well. The picture above is from that trip. Lastly, we went to the UK for my cousin Randy's wedding. We had a fantastic time in London and up at Leiston Abby, near Suffolk. We also stopped in Dover on the way back to London and got to hang out a bit in Canterbury too. In addition to travelling, we have also gotten some visitors, like my brother Andy and sister-in-law Jana and, of course, my niece Sol.





That's about all for this update. From this point on, I will try to update more frequently as we move into the fall, switch apartments, have parents visit, and travel a bit. Tschuss!