The Tale of Captain Sherman

Note: Because we had crap internet for the past two nights, I'm not even going to bother updating this blog to match the current time. It will be enjoyable nonetheless. 

On November 24, 1998, Captain Sherman P. Thurgoodsman set sail for Venice from the port of Tunis. Amidst stormy weather near the island of Elba, Captain Sherman last made contact on December 3^rd and floated aimlessly for 35 days. With food supply slowly dwindling, Captain Sherman sat down and penned what would most likely become his final letter.

Last evening, my buddy James and I found Captain Sherman’s long lost note in a bottle as we strolled the harbor of Vernazza along the Cinque Terre. Despite cloudy skies and scattered drizzles, we had trekked along the Cinque Terre from Riomaggiore (via La Spezia, having arrived there via train from Pisa in the morning) to Manarola. It seemed like such a storybook experience to find the note in a bottle, given our epic hike along the Cinque Terre.

Faced with paths wiped out by dangerous landslides, we had to settle for a train from Manarola to our stop in Vernazza, where we would be staying the night. Given that the entire town seemed deserted except for the handful of regulars down by the “Captain’s Bar,” it seemed no surprise that we would find Captain Sherman’s note along Vernazza’s picturesque waterfront.

“How did we know it was really from Captain Sherman?” you may wonder. Easy. We found it in a bottle of 2009 Chardonnay from Venice. 

Alora…we didn’t really “find” Captain Sherman’s bottle. To fully explain the story, let me begin where we started our day.

After waking up in Pisa, we walked around the corner from our hotel to find the Leaning Tower of Pisa, leaning as ever. What made for an even greater spectacle, though, was the crowd of Chinese tourists all posing as if they were pushing the tower over. It was really quite hilarious to see dozens of Chinese folks posing and responding to their photographers’ commands, “Guo qu yi dien…aiya, tai yuan le. Zai huai lai yi dien.”

James and I couldn’t help but grin as we strolled through the pack of tourists. Then we saw the Leaning Tower and decided that we needed photos like that too.

As we expected, we really didn’t need much time in Pisa, so we headed back to the Central Train Station via bus. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we hopped on the short train ride to La Spezia, where we’d have to take an even shorter train ride over to Riomaggiore to start our hike along the Cinque Terre.

I should say that the Cinque Terre is basically made up of five small villages along an extremely picturesque coast of northwest Italy. Rick Steves made the place famous when he started sharing about it with his followers (we saw his picture up on a restaurant in Manarola).

The Cinque Terre is actually a national park, so we had to pay 5€ each to hike the trail. The entire journey to all five villages is something like a 10 km hike. However, we learned from the information desk that we would only be able to hike over to Manarola from Riomaggiore since the rest of the trail was closed due to landslides in recent weeks. So we walked the 25 minutes over to Manarola, and boy, it’s definitely pretty.

In Manarola, we strolled around a bit, searching for the path over to the next village, Corniglia. In the distance, I spied at least three landslides, so it was obvious we could not go that way. Our choices were either a two-hour trek up the hill or a four-minute train-ride. Since it was drizzling and we had our heavy backpacks (really nice of James to help carry some of my stuff in his bag), we opted for the train.

Passing through Corniglia, it didn’t look like much, so we decided to just stay on board for another 5 minutes to reach Vernazza, where we had booked a hotel. By the time we arrived, it was only about 1:30 PM. Strangely, we were greeted by a man who said his wife was the person who owns the hotel. James and I were both very skeptical and followed him with a very cautious eye and only after he showed us a scrap of paper with James’ name and reservation info on it.

Turns out we had nothing to worry about. He brought us to the room, which is nice but had no Internet (I wrote this blog post in the room to post later). As we paid him the cost of our reservation, I asked him how long he’d lived in Vernazza. He didn’t understand my English, so I tried stringing together some words I thought I knew in Italian and pointing at him then to the ground: “Quanto anno…?” Pretty sure, it’s supposed to be anni or something for plural, but he got my point regardless. 49 years he’s lived in Vernazza. Crazy.

We strolled around and took pictures. Just like the other towns, Vernazza’s not huge, but I think it’s one of the prettier ones. Along with pictures of the water, I saw this hilarious little garbage can shaped like a frog. The town itself is quite beautiful, but everything seemed closed. Around 3 PM, we realized everyone was going home for afternoon naps, so we decided to head back to our place too.

After our break, we headed out again around 5 PM since we wanted to watch the sunset. We climbed up to a higher point in the town and just perched ourselves on a bench up above. It was nice to see the sun after all the overcast cloudiness we’d had all day.

Once the sun went down, we decided to hit up a food joint. There was nothing open though except a few really expensive restaurants and a grocery shop, so we went for a few groceries instead. For roughly 15€ total, we had quality Italian bread, ham, and cheese. We added a bottle of wine this time too—a 2009 Chardonnay from Venice.

So that brings me back to Captain Sherman. We finished dinner and the bottle of wine, and since there is no TV in our room, no internet to watch The Wire, and nothing more we felt like doing, we wrote a letter from Captain Sherman and stuffed it in the bottle. Then we took a stroll back down to the by-this-time-dark waterfront and…well, someday, someone somewhere will find a bottle with a note from Captain Sherman. 

We’re in Rome again now, and we basically just traveled all day. Our hotel is a very cheap one, and there is no free Internet. I’m paying 3€ for two hours. We just bought more groceries for dinner though, and it’s probably the easiest way to save money. Looks pretty good, no?

We also just got caught up on world news on BBC, since we’ve been off the grid for the past day and a half. Since I have to pay for Internet here, I’ll probably be off the blog till later this week. James and I visited a friend of his colleague's near the Vatican today, and then we had dinner with UW friends at the Rome Center. Updates soon.

Till next time,

Sam

Why Is It Raining in Italy?

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It is February after all, and it did rain buckets on my last day in Rome in September 2008. But after experiencing light snowfall in Berlin this morning and arriving to a nice, free-of-rain Rome this evening, I was not expecting heavy showers in Pisa.

In any case, I'm staying at a hotel a mere 250 meters from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I haven't seen it yet, since we headed straight to the hotel from the train station. Actually, we went to another hotel first, since I got a phone call from the receptionist. The desk had closed at 9 pm, and we weren't due to arrive at the Central Train Station till 11 pm.

She was very nice and invited us to meet her at another hotel (I guess she was working at another hotel tonight as well), from where she led us through a short alley and to our hotel. She was definitely a speed walker. But we got ourselves checked in and happy with free internet in the hotel room. For 43€ a night for two people, it's a steal.

I haven't taken many pictures yet, but here's what I snapped from the airplane. I also was so hungry that I didn't even take pictures of the fresh baguette, scamorza cheese, prosciutto, and potato chips that we bought at the grocery store for dinner. 6€ for dinner for two...gotta love living like a student.

Tomorrow, we'll wake up, walk outside, take a picture or two of the Leaning Tower, and then head to the train station for our trek along the Cinque Terre. Should be a fun stroll. I just hope it doesn't rain...

Sam

Softball Practice and Some Grill Action

This morning, I woke up early (relatively speaking) to go to the old grounds of Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. The airport was shut down in 2009 and was the site of the Berlin Blockade in 1948-49. There are two baseball fields there (maybe softball), and that's where my team—the Berlin Black Sheep—held its first official practice today.

I had high expectations for myself and the team going into practice. Within the first few minutes though, it was clear that we had a lot to work on. I missed a number of ground balls hit right at me and also misjudged at least two fly balls. On the few occasions that I did field the ball cleanly, I ended up throwing wide of first. I feel like I need to practice just to practice.

Some of the others on the team did fine. Those would be the guys who are veterans on the team. They had little trouble with their fly balls and only a few miscues in the infield. It also seemed like we might have some good spots for folks. I felt most comfortable at second base, which was what I had expected coming in anyway. Outfield would be fine too, but my arm is more suited for the infield.

Hitting ended up being pretty pathetic for me too. During our first round of hitting, I batted left-handed, which is what I've been doing for the most part since 8th grade. It was pretty bad. I fouled a number of pitches straight up or rolled over on at least half of the pitches. I might've gotten two hits total out of the infield. Embarrassing.

In the second round of hitting, I decided to hit right-handed, and surprisingly, I had much more power even though I felt my form was way off. Apparently, my veteran teammate thought so too. He said it looked much more natural from the right side. Funny, since I haven't hit right-handed in a long time. Frankly, I hadn't hit in a long time, period.

The weather was pretty wonderful. The sun was out, a number of clouds, but not rain. It was certainly chilly and brisk, but once we started running down balls, it felt just fine. Sadly, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. But I suppose I'm lucky to be migrating to Italy for the week.

After practice, Michelle and I headed over to Brandon's house. They had both been at practice too, so we headed to Brandon's together, picking up some groceries on the way. We decided to have a little grill party on Brandon's balcony. Before then though, he cut my hair. Nice of him to do that and another fine job, I think.

As we spent the afternoon prepping all our food (more like just Michelle and Brandon prepping food...I was cleaning up all my hair in the bathroom), of course, I took pictures. Brandon and I finished off some of his carrots. Then we had salad, potatoes, sauerkraut, bratwursts, and bread. Delicious!

For dessert, we had grilled apples with lemon sugar. Good stuff. They made fun of me because I asked if it was okay to eat the skin. Yeah, I suppose I knew that already, but there was burnt parts on mine so I asked. They laughed.

We ended up heading out to pick up a movie. We wanted to watch The Social Network but it was not available. Every single copy at the store was taken. So we picked up Das Parfum instead. We also got some more beer and popcorn.

Normally, I only buy microwaveable popcorn, so today I learned how to make real popcorn. 'Twas pretty fun. When we ate our second round of popcorn, I convinced Brandon to add butter and salt. So unhealthy but so delicious.

Sadly, the movie didn't work on Brandon's computer, so we watched a couple episodes of Family Guy. Pretty funny. Overall, we had a great day and a very enjoyable evening.

Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up and pack for Italy. Then respond to a few emails that I have yet to reply to, eat lunch, and then head to the airport. Looking forward to hitting the road again!

Till then,

Sam

Home, Sweet Home

Getting back to Berlin felt like returning home. As nice as Marburg is, Berlin still feels like the right place to be.

This morning, I finished my medical appointment before I was even supposed to have it...I was running way early today. But then, since I had my trains booked for later in the afternoon, I basically had to sit around and wait for all my connections.

Woke up around 7 this morning and then had breakfast with Ronny, before he drove me to the Gießen Hauptbahnhof. From there, I bought a ticket for 3,90€ to go to Marburg, hopped on a bus to the hospital, and was there 30 minutes early. It so foggy up on the hill though, I couldn't even see the hospital from the bus stop, even though it's only a few hundred feet away.

On my way off the bus, I ran into my doctor's secretary. She had a cold so was on her way home, but I'm glad I ran into her since I would've missed her otherwise. I decided to just go check in, and soon, they called me in and refilled my pump in less than 10 minutes. I was in and out before my official appointment time at 10 AM.

So I decided to head to one of the university buildings that I was familiar with from my Marburg language course days. I thought my internet might still work—I was wrong. So it was only 11 AM, and I had three and a half hours before my train was scheduled to leave. I decided to wander and take some pictures. In all the times I've been in Marburg (including living there for six weeks), I never went into the Elisabethkirche. But I saw it every day since it was right next to our classroom building.

Looked nice in the fog today.

I decided to head to the Hauptbahnhof and just chill. On my way there, I walked across a bridge that I always pass on the way to the train station. I had to take a picture because it always looks different below. Just last month, the river was flooded all the way up to the wooden staircase on the right in this picture from today, and all those cars would be underwater if the water level was still like it was in January.

Once I got to the train station, I thought maybe I could ask about taking an earlier train. Turns out I could take any of the regional trains, but I would have to stick with my reserved seat on the second train to Berlin at 3:43 PM. Since there was a regional train leaving for Kassel at 12:21, I decided to take it, since I'd have to catch my train to Berlin in Kassel anyway.

I arrived in Kassel after the hour plus train ride and realized I had about 2 hours of free time. The train station was a lot colder than I had imagined, so I decided I needed to move around. I'd already visited the city once before, so I really didn't have much desire to wander too far. Plus I really did not want to spend any money.

After meandering a few blocks away (I found the Red Cross center in Kassel), I headed back to the train station to wait out the remaining hour and a half. I spied a Chinese all-you-can-eat lunch deal that would've cost 5,90€, but I had already eaten leftover pizza from Ronny's parents for lunch. So I sat myself down on a bench in the main terminal. I had my headphones in and my hoodie and jacket on since it was freezing. 

As I was sitting there just staring off into the distance, two police officers walked up to me and asked if I spoke German. I replied that I could speak a bit, and they asked where I was going. When I told them I was heading to Berlin, they said in English, "We want to see your passport."

I should mention that I had thought about bringing my passport when I left the house yesterday. I suppose I should always have it on me, but I typically don't bring it with me to Marburg since it's just my medical appointment. Nevertheless, I told the officers that I didn't have it on me (still speaking in German). So they asked, "What's your nationality?"

Would you believe it? I responded in English with, "I'm American." To which they said, "Oh, ok, never mind then. You're okay. Ciao." Then the pair of them strolled slowly down to the other end of the terminal. My first reaction was: Should I be angry or annoyed that I got asked for my passport out of all the people in the terminal? There were certainly some other shady characters walking around (walking is probably an overstatement for some; more like stumbling for them). 

I thought perhaps it's cause I'd been hanging around the terminal for a good 45 minutes already with my hood on (otherwise my ears and neck would've been even colder than they already were) or because I was just staring off into the distance with my headphones in. Who knows. Ultimately, I decided that they were simply doing their jobs (Germany's been on fairly high terror alert since the fall, though I'm certainly not saying I would profile myself as looking like a terrorist). 

In any case, I sat for another hour in the cold, reading James Joyce after the little police encounter so none of the officers strolling the concourse had any excuse to ask me for my ID. Since buying the book in Dublin, I've only gotten 230 pages into the book with another 400 or so to go. As I told Ronny last night (he's tried reading it too; twice actually), I feel like I've been reading the words, but I still have little idea about the bigger picture ideas or the story line in general. Even reading Cliffnotes didn't prove very helpful.

Anyway, despite a very annoying 30 minute delay on the train to Berlin (I did finish transcribing two interviews from Greece), I made it back to my house safe and sound. I made some dinner, caught up on all the emails I'd gotten today, and am now filling out paperwork for medical reimbursements. Keeping my fingers crossed that the insurance companies will move faster on processing claims this time.

Back to work,

Sam

Oh Deutsch

It's been a productive week. I finally got all the letters of permission I need from schools to formally conduct interviews (took long enough...). So I assembled my proposal and sent it off in the mail today. Big fat packet. I learned my lesson from sending a box of semi-important stuff in Greece too—I insured that pack of papers.

After I'd sent the packet though, I got two more notes from schools granting me permission to interview their students. Great timing...now I have to submit another proposal, which is fine actually. I learned tonight that the German version of my questionnaire wasn't quite up to par.

You see, this morning I left Berlin on my monthly trip to Marburg for a medical appointment. The Hauptbahnhof looked lovely as always, the temperature outside was nice and breezy, and it just felt like spring was truly peeking around the corner.

I arrived four and a half hours (and plenty of sleep) later in Gießen, where my old roommate, Ronny, greeted me and picked me up with his mom and dad. I'd never met his parents before, and since they live in the town right next to Marburg, Ronny invited me to stay over with them.

Ronny's parents don't really speak English, so we spent the evening speaking German. Truthfully, I can converse in German fairly well with few problems—as long as I don't have to speak a ton. Once I start running out of vocab, I lose steam quickly. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant evening of catching up.

While Ronny and I stayed home and feasted on pizza, pasta, and salad, Ronny's parents went to a concert. Since we hadn't actually seen each other in a few weeks now that Ronny's back home for a few weeks (and I've since moved to a new place), we decided to revive old traditions and watch Modern Family while eating tons of food. Good times.

Later in the evening, I asked Ronny to look over my questionnaire. It never hurts to have more eyes look at your German, I suppose, and Ronny being my former German teacher would be able to give good feedback. We labored over it for about an hour or so, and then his parents came home. Over some scotch, tea, and croissants, Ronny's mom helped me perfect the wording of my questions.

For the most part, I did okay. But I learned a few things about German that I hadn't quite understood before:

• The word "academic" always refers to university level work. It doesn't apply much to anything at the secondary level or below. So my questions referring to "academic goals" didn't quite make sense for the young students I interview.
• The word for "experience" is too broad for the way I used it (i.e. "educational experiences"). Apparently, "situation" works better.
• Although I love starting sentences with dependent clauses (like this one), I should always start my questions with the interrogative pronoun at the beginning and the dependent clause at the end.
• Translating thematic topics like "Community Support" and "Systemic Support" is tricky because using the genitive case incorrectly would carry a completely different meaning; it was a good lesson in using prepositions.

As always, I made a few mistakes with adjective endings based on gender, case, and number, which my current roommate, Lenz, helped me minimize last night. After tonight's German lessons, I realize I'll have a much better version to submit to the Berlin Senate when I send in my second proposal in the next week. 

Tomorrow I have my doctor's appointment in the morning, and then I catch an afternoon train back to Berlin. Should be home by early evening. Then it's time to get ready for a week long adventure to Italy. The trip will offer a chance for both work and play as I plan to spend some time visiting a UW winter program in Rome. One of the program's themes is education, so it's right down my alley.

Until next time,

Sam