The moron has landed ...

... in Madison yesterday :)
The flight from Frankfurt to Madison was pretty boring (shitty movies!), but at least the plane was not fully booked and I had 3 seats for myself. Used the opportunity to have a little nap while crossing the Atlantic.
During the stopover in Atlanta I realized that I should definitely invest in silicone as they seem to use a lot in the US (and not only for sealing windows and stuff ...) :)

The weather here is much nicer than back home, 25 degrees and sunshine. The jet lag is not that bad, just feel a bit sluggy. More news to follow ...

Hell vs. Wisconsin

Yesterday Dogma was (once again) broadcasted on the TV featuring the alluring Salma H. ;-)
Guess most people know the story: two angels, Bartleby and Loki, get banned from the paradise by god, try to go back o heaven, which would mean disproving god which then would mean the whole universe would cease to exist and so on and so on ...

Bethany: Were they sent to Hell?
Metatron: Worse. Wisconsin. For the entire span of human history.

Haaaaah, did I crack up on this one! If it's in the movies, i must be true, no? Whatever, I prefer to find out by myself and to quote the same movie ...

Jay: ... Movies are fuckin' bullshit!

Raindrops are falling on my head ...

Saturday was BBQ-time. Kresimir, Philipp and Günni did their (in)famous Mägdeberg-party which means BBQ and beers in an old ruin on top of a hill close to Konstanz.

Here the weather was still ok.

We got there around 3 pm and had to carry beer, wood and our personal belongings up to the ruin. The path was pretty steep, about 400m long and quiet slippery because of it' stony surface ... pretty tough!
Weather was ok, with a possibility of thunderstorms in the evening ...
... oh boy, we did get a storm! Around 9 pm, when almost everybody had finished eating, it started raining all around us and 10 min later it also hit us with approx 4736476 liters of rain per minute.

Too much water for me! That's not what I call summer!

That was 4736475 liters too much for me and I decided not to stay overnight but rather get a lift back home.
... mmmmmmh, a warm shower and a real bed is much better than getting washed down from a hill-top by rainfall. ... at least to me, that is. ... maybe I am getting old ;)

Just good Kresi could use the opportunity to trade some of his World Cup 2006 Pannini stickers. A schoolboys wet dream come true ... ;)

my replacement has arrived ...

Congratulations to my friend Markus (whom I know since school) and his wife Susi for the birth of their son Paul!

May seems to be a good time to become parents? Anyway, with the arrival of Paul, I have no bad conscience at all about leaving Germany. The population will stay constant :)
My passport with the visa arrived on saturday already, looks like they are really keen on having me in the US!? Should I be nervous about that?

the visa incident

After finally obtaining all necessary documents from Madison and making an appointment at the American General Consulate in Frankfurt for wednesday morning, I found myself driving up to Frankfurt on tuesday afternoon. Thanks to Paul I had a place to stay overnight and he also "escorted" me to the Consulate the next morning (and that was good, otherwise I wouldn't have found it).
There I had to queue for an hour to get a ticket to finally enter the Consulate and after handing in all my forms and my passport I waited for about another 2h for the mystical "interview" that everybody (including me) is so nervous about ...
While waiting I was chatting to the girl next to me (Chatting! Not flirting! There is a difference) and we found out to have a common friend in Sydney. The world is not small ... it is even smaller :)
Then my number was called and I had to come to the window for the INTERVIEW. What would they ask me? Would they use a polygraph? Would I fail miserably and be branded as an unwanted alien?

"So, you want to do a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin, sir?"
"Exactly!"
"Please place your left index finger on the scanner. We will take your fingerprints."
"... your LEFT index finger, sir"
"Uhm, sorry."
"Now your right index finger."
"Thank you, sir. We will mail you your passport within a week."
"That was all???"
"Yes, sir. Thank you, goodbye!"
"Oh, ok ... bye"

Wow, now what is all the fuss about? Piece of cake!
On the way home I took a little detour to visit my friend Markus in Würzburg who is about to be a Dad and arrived at Konstanz, sound and safe, 'round 8 pm.

And be4 I forget about it ... already booked a flight: will leave from Frankfurt at 11.20 am on monday 22nd and reach Madison the next day around 8.30 pm. Yay! for Delta Airlines, keep your fingers crossed!

Congratulations ...

... Javier and Petra for now being parents!
... and to Sophia for being brave enough letting herself being born onto this planet ;)

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Time to get this baby going ...
After another weekend in Konstanz that was spiced up by the visit of Ester, Nici and Pommes from Dortmund, I will drive up to Frankfurt tomorrow afternoon and spend the night at Paul's place. For the next morning at 8.30 am I have an appointment at the American Consulate for handing in my documents and conducting an interview for my J1-visa application.
Keep your fingers crossed!