how genetics works
follow up post:
No, THIS is how genetics works! [PIC] (img106.imageshack.us)
submitted 20 hours ago by traphicone to picsreddit.sr['t3_9tb45'] = 't5_2qh0u';
i arrived around 10 days ago and there is so much organizing stuff that i hardly find time for anything else. after all everything needs to be taken care of 3 times: first time you go and nobody is there but you know where it is, second time you talk to a person that tells you that you missed some papers, third time is a charm and everything works. after such days you feel that you accomplished only very little but i guess that is how it is in every country you move: there is a lot of red tape that needs to be taken care of.
other than that everything is pretty cool. the main mosque (there are 5 in total) looks very impressive and you feel like in a fairy tale if you walk by in the evening:
after traveling for weeks, i finally realize that i have my very own, very big (!) place, and that i am not here for some weeks only. in fact i am living on an island that is closely connected to the main campus. the place is a 2 bedroom house with a nanny room. i don t know what i am supposed to do with all the space: i have an office, living room, dining room, kitchen, nanny room in the ground floor, and 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, another living room in the first floor. so: please send suggestions or apply for room to be shared :) . the interior is pretty fancy/not-fancy-at-all. they tried to make it look Mediterranean which sometimes works better than other times but i will upload pictures and you can see for yourself.
having said that there is obviously still a lot of stuff missing in a house, even if it comes with furniture, sheets, and stuff. this is why one of our first trips was to (believe or not): IKEA. and how depressing: it s an exact clone of all the IKEA stores you know. they even have the same food in the dining hall. however, the ads and customers are different: men wear the traditional thawb (white long dress) and women the Abaya (black long dress). there is a another major difference: the books in the exhibition shelves are real and of the finest: biochemistry, physics, chemistry university grade science books … guess they haven t had much use for those for a while ;)
most importantly: the people and their mentality. it is different from any other place and oh my gosh it is so entirely different from the United States. If you go back in time when I was arriving in the States it was all about water cooler talk and private space: in the States it s like 'Hey, what s up? how s it goin? how was your weekend? … listen, can I ask you a favor? would you mind etc pp' . you cannot get a single thing processed without going through this (or at least it is way more efficiently this way). Here it is entirely different: you HAVE TO SPEAK UP. It is very common that people agree on something and then you wait for it to happen (the American way). Often nothing happens for a long time, and then you inquire and they tell you: 'we thought you were not interested anymore as we haven t heard from you in a while' … argh … not good … so the key here is: constant 'pushing', they have to know that you are waiting for it to be done. I think the German state of mind/mentality is built to excel in this country as you have to be a bit investigative, rude, and impatient :) … not so the American one though :P
Regarding private space: big, big thing in the states: don t come to close to another person, stay at least an arm reach away. Ha! here they just don t care. there is always room for one more, and waiting in line (which i think is closely associated) does work perfectly in the states and not at all in this country: everybody tries to 'push' his way to the front and you just have to make your way. this is the same when waiting for an elevator: rather than waiting for people to come out of the elevator first, everybody is squalling in, and then people that want to get off have to squeeze their way out: it is effin crazy! … but fun to watch :)
you see: i make my way around. other than that: people are awesomely warming and welcoming and do care about you and your work and that and why you re here. and that feels, honestly, really good.
enough said for now.
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