Mobile Things 2

I consider myself to be a middle-of-the-road adopter of technology.  Primarily because of my frugality.  I can tell you my first CD purchase, which I still own, was Bing Crosby's Christmas Hits.  I was 18, had scored a bargain on a combo stereo with turn table, duel cassette deck (that's right, you read correctly, DUEL), AM/FM radio and...drumroll...CD player, so I decided it was time to start investing in this new music format that had been in stores a few years.  I do love me some Bing, especially during the holidays, but the truth of why he was my first CD purchase was that it was $4.

What does any of this have to do with Mobile Thing 2??  While I updated to OS 7 on my 3rd generation iPad when I got the little message on my screen that a software update was available, I've been futzing with little features here and there and the "cool things" I read about or saw on the videos don't seem to be available to those who aren't on an iPhone5, iPad4, iPad Air or Mini.  So from what I came across in the exploration of Mobile Thing 2, was that I had already found most of the fun gadgets and gizmos in OS 7 on a 3rd gen, on my own.  Oh well, even though Bing started a new phase for me moving ahead, I still didn't get rid of my Thriller or DeBarge vinyls!

New Learning Opportunities - 23 Mobile Things

I was very excited to see that Metronet was continuing with the 23 Things model and offering 23 Mobile Things in 2014. 

It enabled a number of wonderful things to be revived, like the regular meetings of the "Panera Princesses" with some new added friends (at least one Panera Prince), and the blog that I started initially for 23 Things on a Stick and later used to record my adventures on a Fulbright-Hayes Seminar to Hungary and the Czech Republic in 2010.  Scrolling through the posts was like flipping through a photo album (which I have yet to print and assemble, a common theme among my Fulbright friends) and brought back fabulous memories.

Thing 1 on this round of 23 Mobile Things is once again blogging.  I've never been comfortable with my writing style, and so regular blogging has been a struggle.  I feel like more time is spent on the backspace and delete keys than any other.  That being said, I am looking forward to learning (now 22) skills and apps that can be used on mobile devices and may be easily incorporated into my daily life, either professionally or personally. 

New this season - the Hortobágy collection

My fourth and final plane touched down at MSP at 11:25 pm on Wednesday.  Thanks to my good friend Kara, I was picked up and delivered to my house around 12:30am.  I got a solid eight hours of sleep in my own bed and woke feeling completely refreshed.  I believe jet lag has been avoided!  While I've already commented on the improvement of my swollen ankles and feet situation, here is visual proof that I am returning home ready to sport my full shoe collection.

These shoes did not return to the US.  They were stained, had a small hole working through on the left pinky toe and reeked to high heaven.  But I did like how slim my ankles looked in them! ;-)

Now for the real priorities...unpacking Thursday morning.  When it comes to some things (okay, a lot of things), I'm a real geek.  While most things are still strewn across the floor, first thing I did was dig out the pottery and table linens I bought in the Hortobágy and set the kitchen table.  Like I said, one must have their priorities straight.  I just love the look of the black-on-black pottery!

After coming home from the grocery store Thursday afternoon, my garage door opener wouldn't work and close the door.  Thursday night while I rinsed a bowl in the sink, I felt dripping on my feet.  The entire garbage disposal had dropped out from under the drain.  A light bulb in the bathroom burned out.  It felt like the house was retaliating for my two month absence, the way a disgruntled pet will pee everywhere when left alone too much.  Luckily I have an awesome brother who was stoked to play with his new cordless drill.  Check here for some of Aaron's other talents, as recorded by my other pretty cool brother Adam.  The garage door is working again, the plumbing under the kitchen sink is newly replaced, and I managed to replace the burned out light bulb myself.

As a travel blog, I guess it is safe to say this is the end.  Who knows, maybe a new purpose will be discovered.  Thanks for following along...

The light at the end of the tunnel

I don't have any pictures from Germany to share by post as of yet...they are all still on my camera.  As I'm working on Linde's computer with the German keyboard, typing is a much slower process and I wanted to get at least one post in for this last week and a half of my summer.

Unlike my fears, Germany has been very relaxing compared to the six weeks of Fulbright.  I spent three days with relatives in northwestern Germany and was able to be leisurely.  Linde picked me up at Agnes's on Tuesday and brought me to Ingolstadt, where I hadn't been back to since my time as a student 13 years ago.  I am pleased to announce that Ingolstadt hasn't changed too dramatically.  The H&M might have moved across the pedestrian way and the large bookstore is gone, but the majority is where and as I remembered it.

I have been able to serve as Linde's reason to visit all those places in a two-hour radius that one never goes to when you live somewhere, so each day has had a relatively full program of museums and castles, but usually starts out with a late morning of sleeping in!  :-)  Yesterday we went to the Kuhstall Cafe, which yes translates to cowstall cafe.  I thought it would be a renovated barn, but no, a loft cafe was built over a working diary barn with windows allowing customers to watch the cows below.  I never would have imagined that there would be a strange fascination to watch cows in all their manuered glory, relieving themselves while waiting for my coffee to come or eating my cake.  It wasn't just a cafe, but an experience...and one I surprisingly enjoyed.

So, in two days I board a series of four planes making my way toward home.  I honestly can't wait to be back!!

R.I.P. Faithful Friend

When preparing for this summer experience, I gave a lot of thought to which purse/bag to bring.  This one won because it was neutral in color, large enough to hold all my usual crap I drag around plus a laptop if needed and had the handy side pockets for a water bottle and/or camera.  It has served it's duty and unfortunately won't make it home for a proper burial.  You might be asking what is wrong...from the picture it looks fine.  After the second week of being crammed under a bus seat, the cording in one of the handles was crimped, which eventually broke and every day separated further and further.  This caused pressure points at the ends of the cording which dug into my shoulders.  This last week, the second handle broke as well, and the cordings in both broke in several more places.  To borrow a phrase from the Kafka Museum, "she died in the myth of a city called Prague". 

Tomorrow is our last full day in Prague and the last official day of the Fulbright-Hays seminar.  The last few days have been full of running around doing any last minute shopping and searching for those museums earlier missed.  As mentioned, I went to the Kafka Museum on Monday and it fulfilled its kafkaesque reputation.  I was actually laughing through the entire thing because of the absurdity of the lighting, sound and phrasing of the signage.  It was great!

On Saturday I'll be boarding a train for Münster, Germany.  My relatives (fourth cousins four times removed) live there and I'll be visiting with them for three days.  On Tuesday, my hostmom from Ingolstadt will be picking me up and taking me home for the final week.  I'm not 100% sure what my access to Internet will be like in the last 10 days, but I'll try to post if possible.

A day of bizarre

As the last Saturday of the program, today's schedule included a trip to Kutna Hora.  A little over an hour outside of Prague, Kutna Hora used to be the second largest city in the Czechlands and was incredibly wealthy in the 13th and 14th century thanks to nearby silver mines.  In 1318, due to the black plague, there were 30,000 bodies recorded in the cemetery and in following centuries as the town and churches grew, the cemetery grounds were exhumed for building expansion.  The bones were stacked around the church for many years, until the 18th century when they became the material used for decoration.

The entire time I was in the ossuary, all I could think was that the kids at school would totally dig this!

We were back in Prague around 3:30 and had a completely free evening, which was fabulous.
David Černý is a Czech artist that is frequently considered controversial.  He has a number of sculpture installations around Prague and they are the kind of pieces that completely catch you off guard when you first approach them from around an unsuspecting corner.  He is well known for painting a Soviet tank hot pink, for example.  At the entry of the Franz Kafka Museum (which I plan to visit on Monday) is this work...

I don't know it's actual name.  I've only heard it referred to as the peeing statues.  It is mechanized with the pelvis portions, and other parts, swiveling side to side.  Supposedly you can send a text message to a given number and the sculpture will "write" out your message.  Now that would be my recommendation for anyone considering a unique proposal!  I'm sure someone has already thought of it, but can you imagine?!?

They said it wasn't possible

As many of you know, my favorite book is Gone with the Wind and in 1997 I started buying copies of it in the languages of countries I've visited.  I never dreamed that purchasing a book in Hungary and the Czech Republic would be such an adventure.

It was almost half way through our time in Budapest that I finally made it to a bookstore, and when I inquired at the information desk was told that they were out.  I asked to have the title written down and inquired at a few other nearby stores with no luck.  It was suggested that I visit Museum Street with the antiquarian bookstores, at which point I went online and found that it wasn't even in publication and no copies were available on second market.  It was only my speculation, but I thought perhaps during the Communist era American novels might have been taken out of circulation.  I wouldn't have time to hop from one antique bookstore to another and decided not to bother.  A few days before leaving Budapest, I was out and about by myself and passing by the House of Terror (museum of Nazi occupation and Communist regime) when I noticed a used bookstore across the street and walked in.  I pulled out my slip of paper inquiring whether he had this title in Hungarian, was told to head upstairs to the loft and pulled this copy off the shelf.  I told the salesman I should at least ask how much it was, but honestly didn't care, at which point he opened the back cover, shrugged and sheepishly replied that it was 1,200 HUF.  That is $5.50!!  It was mine and my day was made!

I honestly thought the Czech Republic would be a cinch as I already had the title in Czech (thanks to Sandy P.'s mother-in-law).  I also noticed on a Google search that the movie had another title, so I wrote them both down.  While at the mall I waltzed into the Palace of Books, pulled out my other slip of paper and was informed by the 20-something clerk that they didn't have it.  I asked which title I should be looking for and was coldly told, "It don't exist in Czech."  :'-(   Today while at a pedegogical bookstore I thought I'd give it another try...pull out my slip of paper asking if either title is available and he said it didn't exist.  They only had Margaret Mitchell's book North and South in Czech.  Well, she only wrote one book! So, here it is...and for the time being my collection is complete!

There's only eight program days remaining.  People are getting tired, tempers are a little shorter than at the start, but there's also more laughter associated with the exhaustion.