KARNEVAL AND OTHER EXTREMELY VARIOUS THINGS
Pictures
Here ya go!
CBYX/PPP - 24 - Karneval und DänemarkWhat's Gone Down
Work has been pretty consistent. And consistent as in not super exciting and not too much to do. Work last week was slow, with not much to do, so I couldn't wait for the weekend.
And last weekend was awesome because I went to Karneval and put on a costume and walked around with good friends in costumes and saw tons of random people drinking in costumes and saw drumlines and parades and stuff. It was a great weekend.
I got to crash at some frisbee buddies' place (shoutout to Roman and Mischa, you dudes are ballas) and have quite the weekend. I met up with a ton of people from my program, and experienced Karneval, and reminisced on our times here at the beginning of the program.
Well, I got in Friday night, dropped my stuff off, then met up with the PPPlers. We got some beer, drank a little bit, then headed to a little club that our old Language School tutor took us to and had a good time dancing the night away. It was even cooler as more and more people came into town and just met us at the club ready to start the weekend. Nothing like drunken reunions.
Saturday we walked around a lot, saw a bunch of music, and people in funny costumes doing stuff on stages, and just a bunch of cool costumes (see the minions), and more tomfoolery. Ate a really fucking spicy burrito (mad props to the Bay Area Burrito Company) and we chilled at a bar playing darts and watching Fußball for a bit. Another great day.
Then Sunday, due to hangovers and hecticness the day before, it was a little calmer. Me and Dawn went and watched the parade, made fun of a little pirate that didn't want to do what his parents wanted and went and pouted under a bridge. A little more walking around, randomly meeting awesome people like Jenny (DEUTSCHLAND!!!) and Colin and whatnot made for another great day.
Karneval, crazy, awesome, just a bunch of people drinking in costumes and having fun. Clutch. Overall, a great, great weekend.
I got back from Karneval Sunday night, and Monday morning I was off on a work trip to Esbjerg, Denmark. I've been shadowing a couple of the inspectors and (trying) to help out on site. Been spending a good amount of time in the on-site office, but also had some stuff to do, which is cool.
Tuesday, I got to 'inspect' aka 'watch someone inspect and climb around' a wind turbine nacelle, hub, and bottom part of the tower (I wasn't high elevation trained :-( and couldn't go higher) but holy crap these things are huge. See the picture.
I will always be a kid, and the saying "Boys don't grow up, they just get bigger toys" is unbelievably true for me. Seeing crane arms that are 120m high, towers going up 100m, turbine nacelles bigger than most houses, and blades almost as long as a football field, this stuff is nuts.
After work, we went back to our beach house and me and one of the guys went to the beach and walk around. He was on a quest to find some amber, apparently you can find it in the seaweed bunches that wash ashore. We didn't find any, but got to explore some old war bunkers, and got a gorgeous sunset. Not a bad way to spend a Feierabend (literally the time after work, not party evening).
The rest of the week has been pretty consistent. A few more inspections, walking around giant 'toys', and some other work from the office. A great week.
Wednesday, I was working on a report translation, and one of my coworkers made a comment on how international our little table was. A German, Croat, and American, working on translating things to English and German, in Denmark, surrounded by Danes. Talk about an international working environment, quite the cool thing. Follow that up with more inspections, then exploring some more of the awesome abandoned bunkers from WWII near our beach house, and an awesome sunset, another great day.
Thursday, blade inspections. Fifteen blades were going on the next boat out, so we went through all 15 in one swoop. Holy crap these things are big. It was crazy standing next to them, and then imagining that this is just one part of the whole device. I LOVE big machines.
And I love monuments and statues. I don't know how this infatuation has developed, but it's pretty full blown. On the way home from work, there's this statue, called Man Meets the Sea. I was driving home from work, and asked they guys if they wouldn't mind if I jumped out to check it out for a bit. Just four giant white statues sitting down staring out at the ocean. Pretty cool. I enjoyed it.
Then, cultural misunderstanding/terrible German. I jumped in the car, and thought I said to them, "Thank's for your patience." They said that was really weird of me to say, and then started questioning my religion and beliefs n stuff. I played along and answered, and then said something to the fact that I like big statues. He asked if I was Amish, because they do stuff like that, and then I had to clarify what they thought I said. They thought that I went to the statues to thank the statues for their patience. NOPE. Not even close. Hence them thinking what I said was weird.
I went for another long walk along the beach. It was much windier and not as sunny, but still, it was a walk along the beach. No complaints whatsoever. Then I got back, made some dinner, then put together an application for a Project Management position at LEGO. Who know's what'll come of it, but I did, and we'll see how it all shakes out.
Friday, pretty cool. Got to the site, and went straight to a tower inspection. Now, because I don't have my 'working at heights' certificate, I couldn't go all the way. But for some reason, I ended up with these pictures overlooking the entire site from about 66m up. Funny coincidence. ;-)
A tower inspection, and then me and one of the guys headed back to Hamburg because the other had to wait for the weekend until the last tower was ready. And when I got home SUPER MOM BEING SUPER!!! I had a package waiting for me with all sorts of goodies. There is NOTHING like getting a package from home. So. Awesome.
I am a Rambling Mind
I like to think about things. When something cool, deep, intellectual, thought-provoking, or whatever comes up, I like to try and mull it over, think about it, and debate it with myself to get a better understanding of it. And to be more in touch with how I feel about it. But, that rarely ever works out.
My mind is always running on hyper speed, and I don't know how to slow it down. I'll think of something, and then a new song will come into my head, or I'll get distracted by something I'm looking at, or start talking to something/someone, or some other variation of randomness. When I have other people to discuss with, or talk things over with, then I am fine. But when I'm all alone with the rabid jungle that is my own mind, ain't nothing getting debated. And that is frustrating.
Personal vs. Social Responsibility
As you may have noticed, I'm getting a much broader prospective of my/the world through this amazing experience. Something I read online the other day posed the question: "What are some weird things Americans do that are considered weird or taboo in your country?" Naturally, I was interested, and scrolled down to see what people were saying. One answer stuck out to me:
As an outside observer, the US seems to hold Personal Responsibility as a paramount virtue, while in the countries I've lived Social Responsibility is the priority. It's a mindset that has an impact on everything from legislation all the way down to common courtesy.
I saw it, thought yeah, sounds about right. But later on, it came back to me, and really struck. It's so true. Things in the U.S. are so based around each individual liberty and each individual benefit. Sometimes so much that it actually turns out to be a total road block to the progression of the whole. How does this sustain, and how have things not changed? I think because everyone has become so accustomed to getting what they want, when they want, how they want it, that there is no longer any thought given to thinking about other people or society as a whole.
I think this is a HUGE problem. How will we advance if we keep only worrying about ourselves and not giving a hoot about our neighbors? We won't, and it won't be a pretty process if it keeps going that way. And it makes me sad to think of that. I was lucky to be raised to be aware of others. Yeah, sometimes I can be really selfish, but on the whole I look out for others and sometimes sacrifice what I want for what would be good for others or good for the group as a whole. Now how can we get that to a societal level?
Food and Me
I got made fun of for eating sandwiches. Not that I really give a crap, but it happened. I have them for lunch pretty much every day, which was the start. I was making one and one of my coworkers mentioned it then, and then thinks every meal of mine is going to be a sandwich. I had a slice of toast with pasta, and one with an egg and they thought I was having another sandwich. I love sammiches, they're delicious, portable, customizable, and more. Haters gonna hate, sammich eaters gonna eat sammiches. I do my own thing.
Me and Myself, I Vary
I am really weird. Sometimes I see myself or feel like a total kid, like I'm doing things that older people should be doing, that I'm surprised to be doing things. Like I should be playing around in a sandbox but instead I'm doing something important or something I thought only old people do. Yet other times I feel like a total adult, being in a responsible mature environment, doing responsible mature things, and fitting right in in that environment.
For example, this week, I feel like I'm a kid that's just out of place. I'm working with a couple colleagues (upper 20s) doing inspections on site where everyone else seems no younger than 30. And here I am just bopping around at 23 trying to act like I fit here. It's a weird feeling, but most of the time
It's kinda weird how varied not only my life, but my mindset towards my life, can be. Kinda crazy.
Book Review, Born on a Blue Day
"It feels good to do something that everyone can enjoy for different reasons." I really like this quote from the book. It rang home, and I thought about how much I love the same thing, when multiple people are together doing the same activity, but everyone get's a different sort of gratification or appreciation for what's at hand. Like everyone finding their niche and happiness within that niche.
I really enjoyed this book. It is an autobiography of Daniel Tammet, a high-functioning, Autistic savant, who has an extremely unique mind. It was very interesting to hear about the life of someone with autism/Aspergers. A mind unbelievably unique compared to me, but still another human in this world. He talked about how numbers to him are just shapes and colors, and how he can learn languages unbelievably quick (he learned Icelandic in a week. wut...), and other extraordinary abilities, but also about his struggles growing up and trying to find out who he is and how to adapt in a world so different from him.
In some ways, it reminded me of myself, and how I have gotten to where I am. I have gone through drastic change in every facet of my life. So many of the things that held me up or hindered me as a kid, are either gone or under control, I'm able to go about things and master the things I do in my life. I'm really understating what I realized, but this book really helped me reflect on who I am, who I was, and how I got here.
Travel, why?
This experience has further cemented my desire to travel, see the world, and experience everything I ever possibly could. But, being a somewhat social person, sometimes I do catch myself doing it for the wrong reasons. This article (LINK) makes a very good point.
I've also noted this earlier, about wanting to soak in as much of every opportunity that I can. Usually I do this through pictures, and try to share those pictures with whoever I can. Usually I do it to show the cool stuff I'm seeing, but hope that I don't come off as someone just trying to show off to people. Feel free to call me out when it gets to that point. And in the mean time, I'll keep checking myself along the way.
Holy Bajeezus People...
Getting a little political here, but I saw this and it just pissed me off. Anderson Cooper interviewed a Senator from Arizona regarding the new law that thankfully was not passed regarding denying service to customers to protect religious beliefs. This is going to sound terrible, but I can't wait for the 'Old Guard' to die off and get their ignorant and unaware opinions and power out of positions of importance.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/media/2014/02/25/watch-anderson-cooper-tears-apart-arizona-state-senator-ac360Well Damn...
You know when you've got something really cool planned, and then it just falls through and there's nothing you can do about it? Yeah, that happened. And it sucks... :-( Just gotta get through and work to fix it, you know?
Up Next
Not much. More work next week, a low key weekend this weekend, and then not much else on the horizon. We'll see. I'm gonna try and hang out with some of the Hamburg frisbee people this weekend, and maybe get to know them a little better, but we'll see if anyone is in town or if I can get a hold of them.
Outside of that, just livin the life. Oh, and I'm starting to think about what the hell I'm going to do with myself after this program. I've applied for a Graduate Development Program at DONG Energy (hehehe, Dong...) and for a Project Management Position at LEGO. But it'll probably be a while til I hear anything about those spots. Fingers crossed und Daumen gedruckt.
Original Publish Date: March 7th, 2014