So this morning I was up at 5:30 again; I got dressed, set the table etc. I totally rushed out the door again (it takes the Northrups a while to get up and moving). When I got to the lab te lights were out; everything was out and no one was there. Unsure about what I needed to do, I looked around a little and waited. Pretty soon Mr. Weick (yeah, I’ve been spelling it wrong) came in and told me we were going to a meeting. It was typical
My favorite part of the presentation was when he talked about Murphy’s law: Things tend to happen in the worst way at the worst time. The presenter had a nice illustration of this: A tow truck is getting a car out of the water from the pier. In the next picture you see that the car was to heavy for the tow truck and that the tow truck is falling in after the car. Next picture you see a mammoth tow truck taking the car out of the water, and I bet you can guess the next picture: While trying to get the small tow truck out, the big tow truck falls in on top of it. Anyway, after that Mr. Weick told me to go take my breakfast break (15 min. long), which I think is a really good idea. Americans seem to just want to keep going; they’re worried about all that competition. Germans like to take their time with life, and I have another example of this that I will relate in a little bit.
I ate an apple and glanced over the paper headlines. There was an article on the front page about nannies who weren’t getting paid enough, so I figured there couldn’t be anything to serious going on. My first task for the day turned out to be a 3rd try to get the acid numbers for the resin right. I tried to do everything carefully again, and this time I got much better numbers. After the analysis was over he asked me to tell him my hobbies and stuff. I figured something else was coming, and I was right. He explained what I would be doing over the next little while, and said there were a few small weaknesses in my chemistry foundation. I replied “They are big weaknesses. Let’s call them what they are.” He basically agreed, and showed me some presentations online with some chemistry background on them and suggested that he go over these all with me, one each day, to help fill in some of the blanks. He also gave me the advice that if I wanted to study chemistry I should read lots of books about it to prepare me for my studies later, and that I should start easy and then move on to harder material.
It was finally lunch time. The delicious steaming pea soup with a roll and a big hot dog were just what I needed to warm my frozen bones and brain from the long cold wet walk to the cafeteria. I hadn’t had that in at least 2 years, so it tasted even better! When I came back Mr. Weick didn’t really have anything for me to do, so I asked if I could try and work on my presentation; he agreed. I wrote out my introduction and my paragraph for the day in my journal, and when there was still nothing to do I took out that chemistry book again *sigh*. This time I found a place about paints for insulating wires, which was a little easier to understand than the rest, but not much. I started falling asleep over the book… I kept looking at my watch, counting down to the time I would be set FREE.
When I had about an hour left Tonnie Willems called me over to a reactor with a small group of chemists around it to watch the water-resin change like last time. I was glad for the excuse to do something, anything other than look at that book. We started chatting and he told me more about the chemistry behind the reaction and then I switched the conversation topic to his family. I had met his twin daughters before, so I asked how they were doing, and I didn’t have to do anything else. The conversation took care of itself from that point on. I won’t go into details here, but the one interesting thing he said was that he only worked 4 days a week, because he needed that extra day to spend at home with his family. He said he would never go back to the 5 day/week schedule (I certainly don’t blame him), and that he really believed in a balance between family and work. That was just so un-American I had to comment on it now. Who would take an extra day off work every week just so they can be with their families? I think it’s great!! The American culture seems to me to be just work, work, work until you drop dead and then give a little more and then you can die.
Well, after this fun conversation I asked Mr. Weick if I could leave, and he said yes I could, so I cleaned up my desk and left. Before I left I said “Bis Morgen!” (see you tomorrow), and he corrected me: tomorrow is a holiday, so I won’t be seeing him. That means I have time to sleep in etc.!! I was pretty happy. First I went to Wal-mart to get a notebook to use in my research at the lab (I’ve been borrowing Mr. Weick’s, and it’s almost full) and then I went to Media Markt to buy a USB flashdrive. You might be asking yourself why? Well, I haven’t been able to connect this computer to the internet successfully yet, and I don’t want to take up to much time on the Northrup’s computer, so I wrote the letter first on my computer, and then I retyped it on their computer – all 6 pages (that’s why it took me so long to actually get it up to date and sent). That took way to long, and I kind of need one anyway, so I bought one.
Anyway, I then went to church to attend Young Womens. I ended up amusing the Northrup kids most of the time so Giovanna could take care of the activity, but we had fun. We went to the cultural hall (a small gym type of thing), and I spun the kids around, danced with them, sang with them and just plain went crazy (at the end of a long day this is really refreshing!). At the end I was sort of worn out. I saw Stephan Guenther, Thomas Goetze and Bro. Schinagel at the church and enjoyed talking with them a little since I didn’t get to see them on Sun. After the activity was over, the missionaries showed up to do an English class, but they were early so they joined our game of monster-broom. The game is played like this: whoever is “it” has the broom, and they have to sweep it over the floor and try to get people’s feet with it. When your feet get touched, you have been “eaten” by the monster and you are “it.” The Elders really started getting into it, and it became absolutely hysterical.
Eventually they did start their English class, which was definitely unlike any other English class I have ever come across. They began by handing out a list of vocab words that are completely ridiculous and that I had never heard before but that sounded funny. After we had read them all through once we started a game. We got sheets of paper and folded them in quarters. On the top quarter we drew random pictures, anything we wanted. After they were done, we switched papers and tried to describe the picture that we saw in English (you got extra bonus points if you used the words). After that we switched papers again and we had to draw a picture based off of the description of the picture that the person before us had written. Yeah, I haven’t laughed so long and hard for a long time. Giovanna drove me back to the apartment… and that would bring you all up to now. We’re planning to watch a chick-flick since I can sleep in tomorrow… I can’t wait.
Miss you all, and thanks to everyone who wrote me an email, however short it was. I got so excited and happy… it’s great to know someone cares!!
Can’t wait for some more letters!!
Yours expectantly, Margaret
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