Jan 21 - I have acquired a bike!!!

Well, as I have just mentioned in the title of this post, I have just acquired a bike, and I am SUPER excited about it! The head of the research institute (and also a prof I am working with while I am here) is a very kind and generous British man with Indian heritage who lives in Juelich with his family, and he lent me the bike. His wife even went out and bought a brand new lock for me to use as well! I couldn't believe it. I am continually impressed by how nice people I meet here are! The bike even has a light that is powered when you spin the wheel as you ride. The Germans have thought of everything! We are so behind in technology in Canada!

Perhaps with my new-found bike I will be more adventurous tomorrow, and put down the very engrossing book I have been reading all day haha (A Game of Thrones - I don't think I will be sleeping tonight). To be fair, it was raining all day, and I am still feeling a bit sick from the food poisoning I got a couple days ago. And, would you believe it, I don't even think I got it from eating the cafeteria food. It was either my home-made salami sandwich or the fish dinner! Either way, I was extremely sick for a whole day and had to miss a very important day of work - including my two hours of scan time, a group meeting, AND a meeting about the water content study (my PhD project), which only takes place once a month :( :(. gah.

However, I was feeling just well enough to make it to work the next day. And I think it was a good thing I didn't attempt to make the journey to the centre the day before - I had to wait for half an hour in the visitor centre just outside the gates while they tried to call anyone in the research centre to let me in. It was brutal. I ended up being let in by someone I didn't even know (or at least couldn't remember). We laughed about it later because he had no idea who this (he thought German) "Frau Meyer" was, but he let me in anyway. I reallly hope I get my own entry badge soon!

That day at work did turn out to be an exciting day though. One of the ladies who works there, Irene, was giving her first talk at the university in Aachen (a nearby town), and apparently in Germany getting put on the teaching list/giving your first lecture is a very big deal. Just about everyone from the centre was going to watch her talk at 4pm, and so I tagged along too. Of course I didn't think about the fact that it would be in German!! So while I found the few videos of people that have tourettes (the topic of the lecture) interesting, I understood almost nothing in the lecture, besides one phrase - "das ist eine katze", which means "this is a cat". Don't ask me why that was in there, but I was very excited to know it. Good work, Rosetta Stone. I know almost no useful phrases, but I know that that is a cat.

After the talk there was a fancy reception with champagne/mimosas, lots of appies, and a few live musicians. I actually felt well enough to eat a bit, for the first time, and the food was good! Following that was a party organized and paid for by Irene in Juelich. It took place in a large greenhouse - a most interesting venue, and as it turns out probably one of the best party venues I've ever been to! It seems to have been set up for parties, with a full bar and a dance floor (which was not used by the medical physicists :P). There was a buffet dinner and an open bar! I had a great time, and got to know a lot of the very nice, laid back people that work at the centre. One point of interest - it was Irene's mother in law's birthday the next day, so at 12am they gave a champagne toast and sang happy birthday...in English! I was very surprised. Apparently they are taught it in kindergarten, and they usually sing happy birthday in English. Weird.

Well, time to get back to my book! Looking forward to a day of exploring tomorrow!