HREinternational’s Weblog

So, i suck at keeping up with posting to this… so my idea for today is to just give my top 10 of my adventures and insights since i last updated.

very cool vibe in downtown vienna. lots of places like this.

10. Vienna. Went to Vienna a couple weeks ago. It was for work – we met with three partners in about a day and a half. The hotel was awful – they were doing construction right out in front of the building and started work at 6 a.m. Guess it was time to get up. I was with one of my colleagues and essentially twisted his arm until he couldn’t stand it anymore – and got him to go on a horse carriage tour with me through the city. First thing to say about Vienna – LOVE IT. It’s clean, the locals are nice, there are some great outdoor cafes and a fantastic marketplace – all these outdoor meat, cheese, fruit/vegetables, nuts, candy… you name it – where we had lunch on the second day – best mediterranean food i’ve had i think. Delish!!

dirk was a good sport... even though he doesn

this was my dinner that night - wasn

this is the outdoor marketplace.

We also went to a hotel famous for its chocolate cake. cannot remember the name of the hotel – but the cake was really good. at first i felt cheated because the piece was so small, but after that and i heavily chocolated cafe mocha, i was pretty happy it wasn’t any bigger!

Dirk and Mucca at the Marketplace entrance

9. Rain. Now, i didn’t say The Ten was going to be all lovely happy things… it rains here. and rains and rains and rains… i understand that it is well-known – this rain – but come on people! it’s August for crying out loud! And, what it may look like outside in the morning may not be what it is like that afternoon… let alone at 10a.m. even. Yeah, it rains a lot here. the natives are saying it’s been an unusually ”wet summer”… yeah, whatever. I’m not buying it. It rains here constantly. Honestly though – still not bothering me… but i’ll say it again: check back in the dead of winter when it’s dark and cold and raining at 5 p.m. and see if i feel the same. I doubt it.

8. Home Internet. Let me tell you – the feeling of helplessness i have felt the past couple months because i didn’t have Internet access at home has been excruciating. I’m always blazing out of the office to catch the shuttle at the train station… right when the US is getting to work and wanting to chat. I’ve done my best to get by using my Blackberry – i wrote a 10 page PPT in text on that little thing the other day… it took me 3 hours – so i’ve made it work the best i could, but as pathetic as it sounds to be so attached to these things, i feel like i have been freed from prison (not that i would really know what that feels like).

That’s a good thing, I think, about lifestyle in the UK. the number of people attached to their devices – and get excited about Home Internet for work reasons only – are way fewer than the US. I’ve been scolded a few times now for checking work email (and replying) during “off hours” (what are off hours really though, seriously)… sorry Max. I’m trying to extend the leash… a little anyway.

7. Tea. Yeah, everyone over here drinks tea. And did you know there’s “tea”, and then there’s “proper tea”. The natives like their tea. (side note: you may notice i use the term “natives” for the British… like i’m conducting some jungle observation experiment. i have no explanation. that’s just the word that jumped out at me, and there is some consistent yet unusual behaviour i’ve witnessed, so it seems appropriate). Anyway, TEA. so, now you have your proper tea – and you need your proper cream. not that watered down crap, but the real mccoy. don’t get me wrong, it tastes fine, but the science behind a good cup of tea is overwhelming. And, i’ve gotten the nose up on my Sleepy Time tea that i so rudely brought over from the US. Again, whatever. I like my bedtime tea with honey (apparently it seems strange to them that i would think of putting honey in tea). who knew it could be this complicated?

6. The food. Got to say… everything (this can be an ego-centric pallette talking here, so no offense intended) i have eaten here, minus the fish and chips, is better in the US. Now, i love fish and chips… not the healthiest of options, but they’ve definitely mastered it. I learned last night that haddock is more flavorful than cod… and when i thought about it, i totally agree. Fish and chips always seems to come with mushy peas. I made some pokes at the peas in an earlier entry, but i admit… i like the peas. yummy. my mom would be happy i think. at least i’m eating my vegetables (i am Mom!! i swear! ). But that’s as far as it goes. The steaks are “eh”, there always a pint of creamed something on any fish dish, i don’t think i’ve had any chicken.. lamb can be all right. I’m making a sweeping generalization though. i tried Indian food for the first time and liked it, and i like Pizza Express… but let me just close this one out saying that i’ve doled out a lot of scrilla for some mediocre meals.

This entry is getting long. if you are bored, this is the intermission – you should take a break and come back later. I did.

5. Pubs. Love it. Fortunately i’ve toned down my alcohol (especially the beer) consumption considerably. I don’t know what the heck got into me. I was like one of those guys in Animal House who drink straight from the tap or something. The reason i like pubs is the atmosphere. Everyone has their local pub. I have one – i thought it was called Fuller’s, but then i found out that’s a brewing company, so i don’t REALLY know what mine is called, but i know how to get there – it’s right around the corner. I met the owner of the one by the place i was staying in before – would see him outside it every day when i walked home from the train station. He would always say hi – and then i saw him in the bakery one random morning and he remembered my name from seeing me around the pub. Strange thing – i only went to that pub twice.

todd - getting ready for our hike to the biergarten

2. Munich to vist Todd. (and, Yeah, i know i skipped 4 and 3. I’m running out of things to write and frankly, i’m tired of typing and want to go to bed.). I visited my brother in Munich a couple weeks ago. So funny that we’re both in Europe. I’m pretty impressed that he went there – site unseen – and took a job. My move, while i like to think is pretty ambitious, he wins. I chickened out on moving to non-English speaking and he just went… well, lucky for me i get to visit. He lives really close to the town center – Marienplatz (i may have spelled that wrong).

me in front of some museum that i can

We played tourist all weekend. Museum, city center, restaurants, NO SHOPPING (everything is closed on sundays… he told me that, but it didn’t sink in until it was too late ), English biergarten, channel surfing, boring glockenspiel… the highlights: I would have to say my favorite things were the English Biergarten and the surfers. The English biergarten is this massive park just outside the town center. I’m not sure what was English about it… there were some elements of a Japanese garden and some regular old city park – i didn’t see anything that screamed “English Garden”… but that’s neither here nor there. I don’t know how far we walked, but it was a really nice day and we were just exploring (this was after a very anti-climatic viewing of the glockenspiel show in Marienplatz. Real quick – the glockenspiel is this clock tower on a very cool – probably the most impressive looking one i saw in Munich – gothic looking castle-ish clock tower building. At certain times of day – i think noon, 4 p.m. and maybe 8 p.m. – it has these little merry-go-round characters that do a little thing to an abnoxious bell dinging for about 10 minutes.

the bike parking lot... there were thousands.

We made sure we were there on time and Todd (little brat knew it was going to be a letdown i think) wouldn’t stand there like an idiot with me and sat back at a cafe having a drink. I stood there with all the other tourists with my head thrown back so i could see the figurines, waiting in anticipation for the BIG SHOW. At about 12:10 (they were late!), the little figures start going around. Some of them move a little bit. But that’s IT. i don’t get it. Some of the audience cheered when one knight character was knocked back on his horse in a joust with another knight. Huh? Hardly cheer worthy. At least i can say i’ve seen it))…

yeah, that

there was even a guy without a wetsuit... brave fellow.

wait a minute, back to the English biergarten… we stumbled on this interesting site. There were about a half a dozen guys in wet suits and short boards surfing in the river. It was right at the mouth of a spot where two channels dumped into one and these guys were jumping in off the side of the channel, holding the wave as long as they could – got dumped and sent down the river and hopped back out and did it again. They had quite an audience. Once we got enough of that, we walked further and came across the biergarten. We knew it was there ahead of time.. why do you think we volunteered to walk so far? we knew there was a prize at the end!

sort of looks like he got stuck with alice in wonderland doesn

this place was great. it looked like one of the restaurant areas you’d see at disneyland. tables and people everywhere. Stands selling pretzels, ice-cream, chicken dinner… and beer.. in MASSIVE steins. You have to check out the pic. My description can’t explain it well enough. Munich was definitely a good time though and we had fun – despite us both being sick. we’re such losers.

1. I finally live in my own place. Granted, there is no furniture yet – still waiting for that to be delivered. i am currently sitting at a picnic table that i pulled in from outside, sitting in a plastic chair. i’m sleeping on a blow-up mattress and have very few necessities – barely making it work. But i don’t care. It’s mine. I think my stuff won’t even get here for about 3-4 weeks. I don’t really know what happened there… but whatever. Can’t change it, so i’m not going to complain about it. I figured out how to work the heater – and yes, i need the heater in August. See earlier entry about the rain… and it isn’t tropical rain in case you were wondering – it has a good bathtub. i got a coffeemaker and an iron, so i’m good to go. I’m not going to post pics of it until i get my stuff. i look like i’m living like a squatter right now and you all don’t need to see that.

H