Roaming Free

I realized that yesterday's post was too long, so I will do my best to make this short and sweet.

Last night I went to dinner at a local German restaurant, Braustabel. It was kind of interesting. When I took my seat, the waiter asked me what I wanted to drink. All I said was "beer" and he returned with an English menu. It's pronounced the same in English and German, how could he know? Anyways, I ordered the Darmstadter, a mound of gound beef in onion sauce with bread. It was pretty good, though it did not have that much taste. What was interesting was, when I ordered it, the waiter looked at the kitchen as if to find out if they could make it, then shrugged and somewhat reluctantly said "OK". Then, not 5 minutes later, it was on my table! I have literally never had food served that quickly in a restaurant. German efficiency!

When I got back to my room, I figured since the router is sitting in the hallway, I might as well give it a try, so I simply unplugged it and plugged it back in. Viola! It works! Now I have internet access in my room. I probably would have done it sooner, but I was somewhat reluctant to mess with their internet. Anyways, I was able to get on Skype and have a long conversation with Mom, which was great.

This morning was one of those mornings where you just do not want to get out of bed. I forced myself up and got to ESOC only about 30 minutes later than I had said. I was immediately escorted to their library where I encountered a very new phenomenon: no librarian. On top of that, a completely different system for shelving and no guidance. There was a sign that there should be a librarian between 1130 and 1500, so I had free reign in the morning. I meandered through the shelves and found a few interesting titles before my lunch appointment with another interviewee at 1230. The librarian never showed up.

After a nice lunch of peanut sauce chicken skewers with rice and mixed veggies, followed by the customary coffee (or green tea), I had another interview with someone in navigation celebrating his 30th year at ESOC. Both interviews were interesting, though I am not sure how much they will help me. Anyways, after that interview, I called it a day.

I should mention that, after my main contact's secretary dropped me off at the library, I was pretty much walking around by myself all day. This is not that big of a deal, except that to get in anywhere you need a badge, and my visitors badge does not grant access to anything since I am supposed to be accompanied by someone at all times! That means when I had to go into a building, I basically had to stand around outside the door until someone else came by and opened the door. I felt a bit like I was sneaking around into places, which was interesting.

Tonight I think I am going to try an Italian restaurant that multiple people have told me to try. I guess I will see how it is. My main contact will be out the rest of the week, but he assured me I could have free reign of the library again tomorrow (and presumably Friday if needed) for more research. It should be interesting.